Saraguro
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
I got a bus at 9:00 from Cuenca, and we arrived in Saraguro at 12:30. That was enough for one day. I was happy to get off of it, rather than stay on for another hour and a half to Loja.
Within an hour after we had left, a greasy-looking guy with straggly long hair got up at the head of the aisle and started a fast paced sales pitch that I couldn´t make out for some time. I kept on hearing words that were familiar - "diet," "Coca Cola," "problems" - and then he brought out the visual aids, with photos and drawings of a wide variety of body part, including both male and female sexual organs.
He showed illustrations with words that were easy to translate because of the closeness to English cognates: prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, sexual dysfunction, and mouth cancer, as well as some photos of obese people and a few with deformed body parts.
¿What could he be selling? I wondered.
What it eventually led to was a case of small jars that had English labels on them: KOREAN GINSENG TEA.
Once he showed the product, he then followed up with photos of Asian people, and I was able to make it out when he explained, "Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are the most intelligent people in the world."
He walked down the aisle and placed a little jar into the hands of most of the folks who would take one, which included just about everyone who wasn´t sleeping, though I have to say I don´t know how they could sleep with his loud sales pitch going on.
He passed right by me, the only gringo on the bus.
At one point he opened up a new jar, took one of the pills that was inside (so it was a ginseng tea pill rather than ginseng tea itself), and talked to justify the price of the product, which was $3. In the end, he did have some takers, though, and he tried the hard sell, encouraging those customers who made the purchase that they should get another bottle for their mother, father, wife, or whoever.
Once he had made the rounds and collected his money, he was gone with the wind. The bus was quiet for a while, until the driver´s helper revved up the video, which consisted of comedians doing street performances in front of appreciative audiences. In each of the skits there was a Little Person involved; I guess Ecuadorians think that they are funny.
At one point, just to see how full the bus was, I looked toward the rear and saw something I had never seen before on a bus in Ecuador: ¡a bathroom! I got up to use it, but found that the door was locked. ¿Now what?
A few minutes later, the driver´s assistant came through with a woman and a little girl. Evidently the little one needed to use the bathroom. The assistant opened the door, let them in, waited until they had left, and then started to lock the door again - that is, until I let him knew I needed to use it, too.
Very curious, I thought. ¿What´s the use in having a bathroom on the bus if they always keep it locked?
I easily found my lodging, just a block from the central park (named Parque Central). When the room they showed me had only a shared bath outside of it, in the patio area, I expressed my disappointment. The owner asked me if I would rather have a private bath; I said yes. She showed me another room. Not only did it have the private bath, but it had four beds! I asked her what the prices were: the first room was $6 and the second was $8. I went with the second one.
Then I was off to lunch. The town is not as big or as nice as Alausi, the other really small town I have seen.
The streets are either unpaved or are paved with cobblestones that are coming up and making the remainder of the street quite lumpy. One area has new cobblestones coming in, with lots of heavy work for the crew installing them.
The lure here was the indigenous society that comprises most of the population. But I have to say I feel timid taking out my camera to snap their photos - as if they were in a living museum or zoo and I was a curiosity-seeker.
I used the Internet in the afternoon, after having found out from two different sources that the power would be turned off today from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. That´s the first time I ever heard of it being gone for only an hour, instead of two. The woman at the Internet shop told me that she would be back after the power was turned on.
I was in my hotel room during the outage, and waited for the return of the lights at 7:00, but it stayed dark. At 7:30, though, they went back on. I headed out to the Internet to type this entry.
This town has three Internet shops that I have seen: one with four computers, one with two, and the one I am in now, with eleven. The other two, which were open this afternoon, were closed. A friendly resident pointed me in the direction of this one. Within two minutes of the place opening up, all of the computers were being used.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Ecuador: Cuenca
Cuenca
Saturday, 5 December 2009
The bus was scheduled to leave Alausi at 10:30 AM. I thought to myself, ¿What are the odds that it will leave on time? ¡Not very good!
When I got on the bus at 10:20, there was only one woman with her child as passengers. Surely there are going to be more people than this. Sure enough, not only did we not leave at 10:30, but a small mob of passengers arrived at the bus station to board the bus at 10:37. I guess they were counting on it not living at the exact time. Otherwise they would have missed the bus.
We departed the station at 10:43. First stop was - I kid you not - ¡half a block away! I guess it was for the benefit of those passengers who could not make it all the way to the station, which was still in view.
The trip was largely uneventful. The Andean scenery is magnificent, which many of the mountains covered in pastures and farmed plots. There were three times when we had to stop because of road construction, which meant that traffic could proceed only in one direction, so there was a build-up of vehicles waiting on each side of the one-lane section, waiting for traffic to pass, and then let us continue.
At each of these points, local salespeople boarded the bus so they could sell their wares. The most popular aggregation of goods was potato chips, nuts, candy, and sodas. In fact, at one of our stops, seven salespeople boarded the bus, one after the other, each with an identical supply of goods.
We pulled into the Cuenca terminal, located on the outskirts of town, exactly five hours after we had left Alausi. I got a taxi to take me to the center, where I found a hotel. My first choice didn´t have a private bath, but I was weary and didn´t feel like looking around for another place. Besides, the couple running the place was so charming and helpful that I decided to stay.
The male owner told me that if I needed anything - and he rattled off a list, but the only thing that stuck when I heard it was "vegetarian food" - just let him know. Yes, I replied immediately, I would love to get a vegetarian meal. (We didn´t have a meal stop, it was now after 4:00 PM, and the only thing I had eaten all day were two small packs of peanuts from one of the salespeople en route.)
I had already seen that there were several veggie restaurants listed in my guidebook, but the one he mentioned was yet a different one. I found it easily, located across the street from a serene park and picturesque church. I ordered the menu of the day, which consisted of juice, soup, and a main course. It turned out to be much to much food for me, as the main course was definitely an American super-sized portion. I don´t know how they could sell all that food for just $1.60!
Ecuadorian society is very meat-based in its meals, and I am frequently looked at with a puzzled face when I ask at a restaurant if there is vegetarian food. Despite this, the vegetarian restaurant I went to - El Paraiso Nuevo - was packed with people who were obviously enjoying their completely vegetarian fare. (I have noted the same in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, also culturally very heavy on the meat, yet all vegetarian restaurants there were well patronized.)
In walking around this city of 417,000 inhabitants, I could see that there is a large number of shops and restaurants that are very artistically presented, with colorful paintjobs that are not faded and furniture that matches. In all, Cuenca offers a large variety of restaurants, too, as I have seen some that advertise food from India, the Middle East, Italy, and the USA.
People in bars, restaurants, barber shops, and stores were glued to television where some sort of sports game was playing. I think a local favorite team must have been involved, as there would probably have not been that much interest if the teams were from Senegal and Cambodia. In the end, though, their team must have lost because there was not a lot of horn honking or festivities in the streets.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
I had an awful night´s sleep. There was not only street noise, but the other room on my floor, which was separated from mine by an extremely thin wall, was host to at least three adults and - la pièce de résistance (¿how do you say la pièce de résistance in Spanish?) - ¡a crying baby! I was able to hear everything they were saying, as if they were in my room, and the earplugs, which dulled the sound a little bit, were not all that helpful in eliminating it altogether.
In the morning I asked Fernando, who runs the place, if those people were going to be there tonight. If so, I was thinking to myself, I have to get out of here. He told me no, that they were leaving. I also talked about the street noise. Fernando informed me that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights were the worse, but that tonight and the next few would be very calm.
Assured by his words, I decided that I would continue there for the time being.
Señor directed me across the street the Bananas Cafe, where I had a fruit plate that looked like a work of art, along with real brewed coffee. The three women who run the place were very complimentary of my feeble Spanish. In any event, they certainly cheered my morning and I vowed I would return tomorrow.
I had an enjoyable stroll, took lots of pictures, and became totally charmed by Cuenca. In Spanish, the McDonald´s slogan "I´m lovin´it" translates to "Me encanta," or "charms me," and I can say, Cuenca me encanta.
*****
In another topic, I have not been feeling up to snuff the last four or five days. It´s a queasiness in my stomach that I just can´t seem to shake. I am trying to figure out what could be wrong, and am trying to cover all bases in seeking a solution. I have considered three possibilities of what could be wrong: altitude sickness, a bug from water that may not have been properly purified, or dehydration.
In the event that it is altitude sickness, I have been taking it easy, not drinking any alcohol, and drinking te de coca, a local concoction that is supposed to help that.
If it is some sort of bug, I got a prescription from a pharmacy and I have had some yogurt to help my stomach.
If it is dehydration, I have ingested some oral rehydrational salts and have increased my water intake.
While I have a good appetite and have been eating well, I just don´t have the taste for drinking beer or wine at the moment, which is not only unusual for me, but usually a sign that I am sick in some way.
That´s the best I can do for the moment, but there has not been much of a change.
*****
All the Cuenca museums are closed today, so I was left to wander around and just see the town - not that I am complaining, as I have enjoyed it immensely.
I took a walk to the new part of town, across to the other side of the Tomebamba River. The first street I saw was a rather nice one which reminded me of the Panhandle that leads to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It had that same wide median with two lanes of traffic on either side.
The difference in this one, besides the fact that it is longer than the Panhandle, is that each segment and roundabout had a statue to pay homage to a particular person who was important to Cuenca or Ecuador.
The walk was near the stadium, and I had the misfortune of being there at the time that the local team was going to be playing a game, with all their supporters in cars that were honking, and people shouting out of car windows.
I just don´t get it: all this energy, time, effort, and money going into what? Grown men kicking a ball around. And if your team wins, what does that mean? That your city/country/whatever geographic area is better than the other one? So many people getting emotionally involved in kicking a ball, and all for what?
People have tried to explain it to me, but I continually fail to understand what the hoopla is all about.
Monday, 7 December 2009
I had a much better night´s sleep last night. Fernando was right. Also, after the people next door to me checked out, nobody else checked in, so I had the floor to myself, as there are only two rooms on the floor.
When I walked into Bananas Cafe for breakfast, I was greeted with, "Hola, caballero," strictly translated to, "Hello, man," but I took it to mean something more on the order of, "Hey, man, ¿how ya doin'?"
This morning took a walk to the Museo de Arte Moderno, where I found the front door wide open, walked in, went to the cashier, and was informed that at the moment there are no exhibits open, but I could would around and see the building if I wanted to. (¿Don´t they have a permanent collection? I guess not.)
The small courtyard areas of the building are beautifully put together and I took several photos.
People are very friendly here. I don´t exactly blend in, as I am obviously not from around here. Most people smile and say, "Hola." This morning, for the first time, an older man greeted me with, "Hola, gringo." I don´t know if he meant that as an insult or not.
Around noon I stopped at an Internet place and made my reservation for a flight from Lima to La Paz, Bolivia, so that was very exciting. I go on Monday, 21 December, two weeks from today. That speeds up the next two weeks in a way, so I have to be sure that I am well situated in Lima by then.
I had wanted to stay in Cuenca another day, but in light of this new addition to my plans, I will leave tomorrow for two reasons: (1) I want to see the town of Saraguro, between here and Loja, and this will give me a day to stay there, and (2) staying in Saraguro will break up the five-hour bus trip between here and Loja, making it 3.5 hours to Saraguro tomorrow and then 1.5 hours to Loja the next day.
In the afternoon I went to the museum - I forget its name and left the guidebook in my room - that has displays of archeology, ethnography, and other aspects of life in Ecuador. Many of the exhibitions were artistically arranged and well lighted.
Then I had my last meal at El Paraiso Nuevo, the vegetarian restaurant where I have eaten every day. ¡I will miss that place!
Saturday, 5 December 2009
The bus was scheduled to leave Alausi at 10:30 AM. I thought to myself, ¿What are the odds that it will leave on time? ¡Not very good!
When I got on the bus at 10:20, there was only one woman with her child as passengers. Surely there are going to be more people than this. Sure enough, not only did we not leave at 10:30, but a small mob of passengers arrived at the bus station to board the bus at 10:37. I guess they were counting on it not living at the exact time. Otherwise they would have missed the bus.
We departed the station at 10:43. First stop was - I kid you not - ¡half a block away! I guess it was for the benefit of those passengers who could not make it all the way to the station, which was still in view.
The trip was largely uneventful. The Andean scenery is magnificent, which many of the mountains covered in pastures and farmed plots. There were three times when we had to stop because of road construction, which meant that traffic could proceed only in one direction, so there was a build-up of vehicles waiting on each side of the one-lane section, waiting for traffic to pass, and then let us continue.
At each of these points, local salespeople boarded the bus so they could sell their wares. The most popular aggregation of goods was potato chips, nuts, candy, and sodas. In fact, at one of our stops, seven salespeople boarded the bus, one after the other, each with an identical supply of goods.
We pulled into the Cuenca terminal, located on the outskirts of town, exactly five hours after we had left Alausi. I got a taxi to take me to the center, where I found a hotel. My first choice didn´t have a private bath, but I was weary and didn´t feel like looking around for another place. Besides, the couple running the place was so charming and helpful that I decided to stay.
The male owner told me that if I needed anything - and he rattled off a list, but the only thing that stuck when I heard it was "vegetarian food" - just let him know. Yes, I replied immediately, I would love to get a vegetarian meal. (We didn´t have a meal stop, it was now after 4:00 PM, and the only thing I had eaten all day were two small packs of peanuts from one of the salespeople en route.)
I had already seen that there were several veggie restaurants listed in my guidebook, but the one he mentioned was yet a different one. I found it easily, located across the street from a serene park and picturesque church. I ordered the menu of the day, which consisted of juice, soup, and a main course. It turned out to be much to much food for me, as the main course was definitely an American super-sized portion. I don´t know how they could sell all that food for just $1.60!
Ecuadorian society is very meat-based in its meals, and I am frequently looked at with a puzzled face when I ask at a restaurant if there is vegetarian food. Despite this, the vegetarian restaurant I went to - El Paraiso Nuevo - was packed with people who were obviously enjoying their completely vegetarian fare. (I have noted the same in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, also culturally very heavy on the meat, yet all vegetarian restaurants there were well patronized.)
In walking around this city of 417,000 inhabitants, I could see that there is a large number of shops and restaurants that are very artistically presented, with colorful paintjobs that are not faded and furniture that matches. In all, Cuenca offers a large variety of restaurants, too, as I have seen some that advertise food from India, the Middle East, Italy, and the USA.
People in bars, restaurants, barber shops, and stores were glued to television where some sort of sports game was playing. I think a local favorite team must have been involved, as there would probably have not been that much interest if the teams were from Senegal and Cambodia. In the end, though, their team must have lost because there was not a lot of horn honking or festivities in the streets.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
I had an awful night´s sleep. There was not only street noise, but the other room on my floor, which was separated from mine by an extremely thin wall, was host to at least three adults and - la pièce de résistance (¿how do you say la pièce de résistance in Spanish?) - ¡a crying baby! I was able to hear everything they were saying, as if they were in my room, and the earplugs, which dulled the sound a little bit, were not all that helpful in eliminating it altogether.
In the morning I asked Fernando, who runs the place, if those people were going to be there tonight. If so, I was thinking to myself, I have to get out of here. He told me no, that they were leaving. I also talked about the street noise. Fernando informed me that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights were the worse, but that tonight and the next few would be very calm.
Assured by his words, I decided that I would continue there for the time being.
Señor directed me across the street the Bananas Cafe, where I had a fruit plate that looked like a work of art, along with real brewed coffee. The three women who run the place were very complimentary of my feeble Spanish. In any event, they certainly cheered my morning and I vowed I would return tomorrow.
I had an enjoyable stroll, took lots of pictures, and became totally charmed by Cuenca. In Spanish, the McDonald´s slogan "I´m lovin´it" translates to "Me encanta," or "charms me," and I can say, Cuenca me encanta.
*****
In another topic, I have not been feeling up to snuff the last four or five days. It´s a queasiness in my stomach that I just can´t seem to shake. I am trying to figure out what could be wrong, and am trying to cover all bases in seeking a solution. I have considered three possibilities of what could be wrong: altitude sickness, a bug from water that may not have been properly purified, or dehydration.
In the event that it is altitude sickness, I have been taking it easy, not drinking any alcohol, and drinking te de coca, a local concoction that is supposed to help that.
If it is some sort of bug, I got a prescription from a pharmacy and I have had some yogurt to help my stomach.
If it is dehydration, I have ingested some oral rehydrational salts and have increased my water intake.
While I have a good appetite and have been eating well, I just don´t have the taste for drinking beer or wine at the moment, which is not only unusual for me, but usually a sign that I am sick in some way.
That´s the best I can do for the moment, but there has not been much of a change.
*****
All the Cuenca museums are closed today, so I was left to wander around and just see the town - not that I am complaining, as I have enjoyed it immensely.
I took a walk to the new part of town, across to the other side of the Tomebamba River. The first street I saw was a rather nice one which reminded me of the Panhandle that leads to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It had that same wide median with two lanes of traffic on either side.
The difference in this one, besides the fact that it is longer than the Panhandle, is that each segment and roundabout had a statue to pay homage to a particular person who was important to Cuenca or Ecuador.
The walk was near the stadium, and I had the misfortune of being there at the time that the local team was going to be playing a game, with all their supporters in cars that were honking, and people shouting out of car windows.
I just don´t get it: all this energy, time, effort, and money going into what? Grown men kicking a ball around. And if your team wins, what does that mean? That your city/country/whatever geographic area is better than the other one? So many people getting emotionally involved in kicking a ball, and all for what?
People have tried to explain it to me, but I continually fail to understand what the hoopla is all about.
Monday, 7 December 2009
I had a much better night´s sleep last night. Fernando was right. Also, after the people next door to me checked out, nobody else checked in, so I had the floor to myself, as there are only two rooms on the floor.
When I walked into Bananas Cafe for breakfast, I was greeted with, "Hola, caballero," strictly translated to, "Hello, man," but I took it to mean something more on the order of, "Hey, man, ¿how ya doin'?"
This morning took a walk to the Museo de Arte Moderno, where I found the front door wide open, walked in, went to the cashier, and was informed that at the moment there are no exhibits open, but I could would around and see the building if I wanted to. (¿Don´t they have a permanent collection? I guess not.)
The small courtyard areas of the building are beautifully put together and I took several photos.
People are very friendly here. I don´t exactly blend in, as I am obviously not from around here. Most people smile and say, "Hola." This morning, for the first time, an older man greeted me with, "Hola, gringo." I don´t know if he meant that as an insult or not.
Around noon I stopped at an Internet place and made my reservation for a flight from Lima to La Paz, Bolivia, so that was very exciting. I go on Monday, 21 December, two weeks from today. That speeds up the next two weeks in a way, so I have to be sure that I am well situated in Lima by then.
I had wanted to stay in Cuenca another day, but in light of this new addition to my plans, I will leave tomorrow for two reasons: (1) I want to see the town of Saraguro, between here and Loja, and this will give me a day to stay there, and (2) staying in Saraguro will break up the five-hour bus trip between here and Loja, making it 3.5 hours to Saraguro tomorrow and then 1.5 hours to Loja the next day.
In the afternoon I went to the museum - I forget its name and left the guidebook in my room - that has displays of archeology, ethnography, and other aspects of life in Ecuador. Many of the exhibitions were artistically arranged and well lighted.
Then I had my last meal at El Paraiso Nuevo, the vegetarian restaurant where I have eaten every day. ¡I will miss that place!
Friday, December 04, 2009
Ecuador: Train ride from Riobamba to Alausi
Train ride from Riobamba to Alausi
Friday, 4 December 2009
With my hard-to-obtain train ticket in hand, I showed up at the train station, fortunately located half a block from my hotel, shortly after 6:00 AM to begin the boarding process. All tickets were checked and we were boarded in numerical order as listed on our tickets.
There were two "trains" and they were numbered 61 and 97. I say "trains" because all they really were were old school buses that had been transferred onto train wheels so that they could navigate the tracks.
My first suspicion that there might be a problem was that one of the employees offered us motion sickness pills. ¿Would we really need those for a train? I soon found out why, as it was a very bumpy and rolling ride.
The original plan was to travel to the town of Alausi, then continue to another little leg called Nariz del Diablo (Devil´s Nose), and then return to Alausi, which was to have been accomplished by 11:30 AM.
Problema numero uno came when the train ahead of us had "mechanical problems" that were going to take "twenty minutes" to fix. We were on the move in three times that amount of time.
All was chugging along well until we came to another stop. Problema numero dos was that there was a landslide across the track and it was not going to be able to be cleared today. The railway employee told us that we would go in reverse to an abandoned station that we had passed, and that "there will be buses there waiting to take you to Alausi."
I was particularly taken by the verb tense that she had used. She made it sound like when we got there, the buses would already be there. ¿So quickly? ¿How are they going to do that?
When we got there, there was one van waiting, it was for the woman from Lichtenstein, who had been sitting next to me. She had a personal guide and driver to meet her in Alausi, and then she was going to Guayaquil to begin her trip to the Galapagos.
But there were no buses waiting for the rest of us.
Shortly after that, a van pulled up to pick up two Swiss guys, and they were on their way.
At one point, they told us the bus would be there in "fifteen minutes." But there was no bus. A pickup truck came buy, and one of the college-aged kids who were traveling as a group hopped on and encouraged his friends to do the same. Off they went.
Shortly after, another pick-up came and took the next large group. This left a total of ten of us.
We waited for about an hour, all told, and when the little bus came to get us, we filled every seat in the bus. What would have happened if all those others had not abandoned the mission?
In any event, we arrived in Alausi at about 1:00. Alfonso, a Peruvian guy, had really wanted to get to Nariz del Diablo, and he made his displeasure known to the railway staff. When we arrived in Alausi, she had Alfonso, Nick from England, and me follow her to the railway office to see about getting refunds for our tickets. I didn´t feel as strongly as Alfonso did about getting money back. After all, I was in Alausi unscathed, and that was fine. But I went along for the walk just to see what would happen.
In the end, the person in charge was back in Riobamba, and that is where the problem would be sorted out. Alfonso and Nick were going back there, but I wasn´t. I had my luggage with me and was continuing southward to Cuenca, and then onwards toward the border with Peru.
The Ecuador Railway refers to this as "el ferrocarril mas dificil del mundo," meaning that it is "the most difficult railway in the world." ¡It wouldn´t be so hard if they had decent equipment!
I had been considering whether I would stay there for the night or continue to Cuenca the same day. Since the ride to Cuenca is another four hours on the road, I decided to stay put, hang out for the night, and continue tomorrow.
When I went to the bus station, I found that, in the end, it was really the only decision I could have made, as there are only two trips a day to Cuenca: 6:00 and 10:00 AM.
I checked into a hotel room, had something for lunch, and went to use the Internet. At the Internet I inquired about the time of today´s planned electrical blackout. I was in luck, as they had already had it from 8:00 to 10:00 AM.
Friday, 4 December 2009
With my hard-to-obtain train ticket in hand, I showed up at the train station, fortunately located half a block from my hotel, shortly after 6:00 AM to begin the boarding process. All tickets were checked and we were boarded in numerical order as listed on our tickets.
There were two "trains" and they were numbered 61 and 97. I say "trains" because all they really were were old school buses that had been transferred onto train wheels so that they could navigate the tracks.
My first suspicion that there might be a problem was that one of the employees offered us motion sickness pills. ¿Would we really need those for a train? I soon found out why, as it was a very bumpy and rolling ride.
The original plan was to travel to the town of Alausi, then continue to another little leg called Nariz del Diablo (Devil´s Nose), and then return to Alausi, which was to have been accomplished by 11:30 AM.
Problema numero uno came when the train ahead of us had "mechanical problems" that were going to take "twenty minutes" to fix. We were on the move in three times that amount of time.
All was chugging along well until we came to another stop. Problema numero dos was that there was a landslide across the track and it was not going to be able to be cleared today. The railway employee told us that we would go in reverse to an abandoned station that we had passed, and that "there will be buses there waiting to take you to Alausi."
I was particularly taken by the verb tense that she had used. She made it sound like when we got there, the buses would already be there. ¿So quickly? ¿How are they going to do that?
When we got there, there was one van waiting, it was for the woman from Lichtenstein, who had been sitting next to me. She had a personal guide and driver to meet her in Alausi, and then she was going to Guayaquil to begin her trip to the Galapagos.
But there were no buses waiting for the rest of us.
Shortly after that, a van pulled up to pick up two Swiss guys, and they were on their way.
At one point, they told us the bus would be there in "fifteen minutes." But there was no bus. A pickup truck came buy, and one of the college-aged kids who were traveling as a group hopped on and encouraged his friends to do the same. Off they went.
Shortly after, another pick-up came and took the next large group. This left a total of ten of us.
We waited for about an hour, all told, and when the little bus came to get us, we filled every seat in the bus. What would have happened if all those others had not abandoned the mission?
In any event, we arrived in Alausi at about 1:00. Alfonso, a Peruvian guy, had really wanted to get to Nariz del Diablo, and he made his displeasure known to the railway staff. When we arrived in Alausi, she had Alfonso, Nick from England, and me follow her to the railway office to see about getting refunds for our tickets. I didn´t feel as strongly as Alfonso did about getting money back. After all, I was in Alausi unscathed, and that was fine. But I went along for the walk just to see what would happen.
In the end, the person in charge was back in Riobamba, and that is where the problem would be sorted out. Alfonso and Nick were going back there, but I wasn´t. I had my luggage with me and was continuing southward to Cuenca, and then onwards toward the border with Peru.
The Ecuador Railway refers to this as "el ferrocarril mas dificil del mundo," meaning that it is "the most difficult railway in the world." ¡It wouldn´t be so hard if they had decent equipment!
I had been considering whether I would stay there for the night or continue to Cuenca the same day. Since the ride to Cuenca is another four hours on the road, I decided to stay put, hang out for the night, and continue tomorrow.
When I went to the bus station, I found that, in the end, it was really the only decision I could have made, as there are only two trips a day to Cuenca: 6:00 and 10:00 AM.
I checked into a hotel room, had something for lunch, and went to use the Internet. At the Internet I inquired about the time of today´s planned electrical blackout. I was in luck, as they had already had it from 8:00 to 10:00 AM.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Ecuador: Baños and Riobamba
Baños and Riobamba
Sunday, 29 November 2009
On the way to Baños from Quito, I had plenty of time to look through the guidebook to find a hotel. I saw several that seemed to fill the bill and decided to check out Hostal Transilvania first because of my inclination toward laziness: it was the closest one to the bus station.
I also have to admit to curiosity, not only about the name of the place, but also because the guidebook mentioned that it had a Middle Eastern restaurant on the premises. Since that is my favorite cuisine, this place very definitely had possibilities.
When I entered, I noticed right away that all the signage was trilingual: Spanish, English, and Hebrew. Though I spoke Spanish with the owner, he not only replied in English, but with a curious not-from-around-here accent. I asked if he was Israeli, and he said he is.
Itai, who operates the Hostal Transilvania, came to Ecuador some years ago as a tourist. During that trip he met the Ecuadorian woman who is now his wife. They have a young son who has the run of the hostal.
There was a room available for me, with private bath, breakfast and Internet included, all for the price of $7 per night. ¡Sold!
Monday, 30 November 2009
For the benefit of those of you who may never have studied Spanish, I can tell you that Baños, the name of this town, means "place where dogs bark all night long."
Ecuador does not have an extensive railroad network, but there is one famous and popular sightseeing route that originates right here in Riobamba. Lots of people come here specifically to take this train ride.
When I was waiting for my bus from Baños to Riobamba, the French guy, Portuguese guy, and German couple were talking about their problems in getting tickets for this trip. An Ecuadorian woman who overheard them came over to say that she was an employee of the railroad and was able to tell them that this train was completely booked for the entire month of December. She mentioned the possibility of getting on a waiting list to see if there are any cancellations.
I hadn´t done anything about this because I was not sure about when I would be here. I also didn´t realize that the train was that popular.
Yesterday, after I checked into my hotel, I went over to the train station to see if I could get my name on a waiting list for Friday´s departure. (There are only three trips a week: Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.) They took my name and other pertinent information, and told me to come back at 5:00 PM. When I got back, they told me that they had a ticket for me for Friday, but they could not sell it to me at the moment because the power was out and they needed the computer to do that, so I had to return this morning.
Power outage times seem to rotate and are usually for two hours at a time: sometimes starting at 8:00 AM, sometimes 10:00 AM, and there are some times in the afternoon, too.
When I returned to the station at 8:00 AM, it was power outage time, and the employees weren´t there anyway. ¿Why go to work when you can´t get your work done?
But a little later, when I checked it out again, around 10:00, the workers were there. I was able to pay my $11 and get a copy of my reservation, so I now have a secured seat on the train. I have to go back tomorrow to pick up the ticket itself.
I spent the greater part of the day just walking around and taking photos. It´s not the most picturesque town, but I did manage to find some nice buildings and architectural features to photograph.
In the evening, when I went to my website to upload the photos, I saw that the entire website was in Spanish! How did that happen? At the top of the page, I saw that Google had done it. Not only that, but I could go to the pulldown menu and have the contents immediately translated into any one of a number of languages. I never knew that that was possible. ¿Did you?
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Not much going on today. I walked around a lot more, got some laundry done, and visited the Museum of Religious Art.
My train ticket was ready for pick-up this afternoon, as promised. Off I go tomorrow on the choo-choo.
I was surprised to notice that wherever I went today, there were no power outages. It was my first time on mainland Ecuador that there was electricity all day (as there was in the Galapagos, where I never experienced a scheduled turn-off of power).
Then, just as I was finishing up on the computer at almost 7:00 PM, one of the employees came over to warn me that I should hurry up because the power was going to go of at 7:00 and last until 10:00.
I finished just in time, and arrived at my hotel in time to find the receptionist lighting candles to give to people so that they would have some light in their rooms.
Note to self: since everyone knows when the power is going to turn off on any given day, ask around and find out what the schedule is so you can plan accordingly.
Sunday, 29 November 2009
On the way to Baños from Quito, I had plenty of time to look through the guidebook to find a hotel. I saw several that seemed to fill the bill and decided to check out Hostal Transilvania first because of my inclination toward laziness: it was the closest one to the bus station.
I also have to admit to curiosity, not only about the name of the place, but also because the guidebook mentioned that it had a Middle Eastern restaurant on the premises. Since that is my favorite cuisine, this place very definitely had possibilities.
When I entered, I noticed right away that all the signage was trilingual: Spanish, English, and Hebrew. Though I spoke Spanish with the owner, he not only replied in English, but with a curious not-from-around-here accent. I asked if he was Israeli, and he said he is.
Itai, who operates the Hostal Transilvania, came to Ecuador some years ago as a tourist. During that trip he met the Ecuadorian woman who is now his wife. They have a young son who has the run of the hostal.
There was a room available for me, with private bath, breakfast and Internet included, all for the price of $7 per night. ¡Sold!
Monday, 30 November 2009
For the benefit of those of you who may never have studied Spanish, I can tell you that Baños, the name of this town, means "place where dogs bark all night long."
Other than that, it´s a pleasant little town. It was also just what I needed. My last day in Quito I managed to wrench my back. It was reminiscent of the incident almost exactly a year ago in Laos, but not nearly as painful or debilitating.
In Quito I went to a pharmacy to get a pain reliever, and when that didn´t work, I went to a clinic, where I got an injection for the inflammation and a prescription for something stronger.
The next day I was feeling much better and I was able to stand up straight, but there was still some residual pain.
In Baños I have had back massages for two days in a row and I also went to some of the hot springs. I am all better and good to go for the next leg of the journey, which begins tomorrow.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Whereas yesterday the power outage was noon to 2:00 PM, this morning it was from 8:00to 10:00. That being the case, I decided to wait until I got to Riobamba to check my e-mail.
The bus ride was about two hours, and we passed some beautiful countryside en route. We were moving too quickly for me to be able to get a lot of photos, but at one point we slowed down and I got a few.
I have seen many countries where salespeople walk through buses and trains selling their wares. Ecuador is no different. On today´s trip, we first had an adolescent girl come through calling out, "¡Helados!" Several people on the bus purchased her ice cream. When she had sold what she could, the driver stopped to let her off. She crossed the road, ostensibly to get on a bus going back in the direction from which she had come.
Later on, though, when we were about twenty minutes from our destination, I saw a sales pitch the likes of which I had never seen before. A guy got on with a big case, plopped it in the middle of the aisle right next to my seat, and then headed to the area behind the driver. He put on a headset with battery-powered microphone and launched into a sales pitch that was complete with large photographs of people whose teeth were in advanced states of decay.
He spoke so quickly that all I was able to make out from this portion of the harangue was "Coca-Cola" and "Colombia." He must have been explaining the damage that Coke does to teeth, which is well-known, and I guess his product was manufactured in Colombia.
He showed two items: one was a small packet that must have been toothpaste, and the other was a toothbrush. I was able to make out that he was selling both of these products for the low, low price of $1. He reached for handfuls of both and then walked through the bus, depositing a set into the hands of all the adults.
He skipped me, which was just as well, as I have a full complement of dental supplies with me. I didn´t look back at the other gringos on the bus (a couple from Germany, a Frenchman, and a Portuguese guy) to see if he bypassed them, too.
Then he made his second trip, collecting either the dollar or the items.
I wonder if these salespeople have to pay to ride the bus. I have never seen a driver refuse entry to one. I imagine that the drivers feel some degree of empathy for these folks.
I love the name of this town: Riobamba. It is a hybrid of Spanish and Quichua. "Rio" is familiar to most of as as Spanish for "river." The "bamba" part means "valley" in Quichua. I love saying the name of this place, as it makes me want to dance.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009Ecuador does not have an extensive railroad network, but there is one famous and popular sightseeing route that originates right here in Riobamba. Lots of people come here specifically to take this train ride.
When I was waiting for my bus from Baños to Riobamba, the French guy, Portuguese guy, and German couple were talking about their problems in getting tickets for this trip. An Ecuadorian woman who overheard them came over to say that she was an employee of the railroad and was able to tell them that this train was completely booked for the entire month of December. She mentioned the possibility of getting on a waiting list to see if there are any cancellations.
I hadn´t done anything about this because I was not sure about when I would be here. I also didn´t realize that the train was that popular.
Yesterday, after I checked into my hotel, I went over to the train station to see if I could get my name on a waiting list for Friday´s departure. (There are only three trips a week: Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.) They took my name and other pertinent information, and told me to come back at 5:00 PM. When I got back, they told me that they had a ticket for me for Friday, but they could not sell it to me at the moment because the power was out and they needed the computer to do that, so I had to return this morning.
Power outage times seem to rotate and are usually for two hours at a time: sometimes starting at 8:00 AM, sometimes 10:00 AM, and there are some times in the afternoon, too.
When I returned to the station at 8:00 AM, it was power outage time, and the employees weren´t there anyway. ¿Why go to work when you can´t get your work done?
But a little later, when I checked it out again, around 10:00, the workers were there. I was able to pay my $11 and get a copy of my reservation, so I now have a secured seat on the train. I have to go back tomorrow to pick up the ticket itself.
I spent the greater part of the day just walking around and taking photos. It´s not the most picturesque town, but I did manage to find some nice buildings and architectural features to photograph.
In the evening, when I went to my website to upload the photos, I saw that the entire website was in Spanish! How did that happen? At the top of the page, I saw that Google had done it. Not only that, but I could go to the pulldown menu and have the contents immediately translated into any one of a number of languages. I never knew that that was possible. ¿Did you?
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Not much going on today. I walked around a lot more, got some laundry done, and visited the Museum of Religious Art.
My train ticket was ready for pick-up this afternoon, as promised. Off I go tomorrow on the choo-choo.
I was surprised to notice that wherever I went today, there were no power outages. It was my first time on mainland Ecuador that there was electricity all day (as there was in the Galapagos, where I never experienced a scheduled turn-off of power).
Then, just as I was finishing up on the computer at almost 7:00 PM, one of the employees came over to warn me that I should hurry up because the power was going to go of at 7:00 and last until 10:00.
I finished just in time, and arrived at my hotel in time to find the receptionist lighting candles to give to people so that they would have some light in their rooms.
Note to self: since everyone knows when the power is going to turn off on any given day, ask around and find out what the schedule is so you can plan accordingly.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Ecuador: Return to Quito - and out again
Return to Quito - and out again
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
We had a relaxed trip to the airport this morning - Paulina, Pepe, and me. When we arrived and Paulina went to the desk to check me in she came over to tell me that the departure, scheduled for 10:40, would be delayed by forty minutes. Well, that´s no big deal, as I have experienced worse.
Unfortunately, it didn´t stop there. As the morning wore on, people kept on coming over to say that the delay would be longer. At 12:20, they told us that the incoming flight would be arriving at 1:15. We were to be returning on that same plane.
At 1:10, I went to the counter to inquire, expecting that they would tell me that the flight would arrive in five more minutes. Instead, I learned that it had not yet left Guayaquil!
I borrowed a cell phone to call Megan, my host in Quito, to let her know that I was going to be very late coming back. Additionally, since I didn´t have keys to her apartment, I didn´t want to hold her up in case she wanted to go out this evening.
When I made the call, I accidentally called the wrong number. Instead of calling Megan, I reached the travel agent who had arranged for my Galapagos trip from Quito. She said she had some news for me: she had just realized that the (high) price I had paid for this trip did not include the cost of the airfare! Somebody had mistakenly left that out, and now she wanted me to pay an additional $380!
This was not a good thing to hear, considering how late the flight was and how much I had already paid. I told her that I couldn´t talk to her about that now.
Then I reached Megan, who had plans to go out tonight. I told her not to worry about me, that I would get a hotel room in Quito and then see her tomorrow.
I had been sitting at a table with a guy named Antonio. When I got back to tell him about the additional airfare cost and the need to get a hotel room in Quito, he said, "Your day is getting better."
The airline was handing out sandwiches, but they were tuna, so I didn´t take one.
At 2:00, they told us that the flight had taken off and would arrive at 3:30. By that time, with the flight not yet in, they announced that we could begin going through the security screening process. The flight landed at 3:50. After unloading the passengers and their luggage, we were told that we could board the plane.
They let us board through both the front and rear doors, directing some of us to the front and some to the back. When we got on the plane, though, we realized that the door to which we were sent had no bearing on the part of the plane where our seats were located! As a result, passengers had to squeeze past each other in opposite directions in the crowded aisles to get to their seats.
This is AeroGal (Aerolineas Galapagos), the same airline with the stunningly ineffective check-in process that we went through on the trip from Quito to the Galapagos.
We finally took off at 4:55, which was six hours and five minutes later than the scheduled departure.
When the food service began, I asked about the contents of the sandwiches. It was chicken; there was no vegetarian option available. The travel agent in Quito knew that I was a vegetarian, as I had gone over this with her in order to avoid complications on the ships and in the restaurants in Puerto Ayora.
I would have been happy with a beer on board, but they didn´t have any. Finally, when I got a cup of water, as I was drinking it, I could smell coffee. When I looked at the rim of the cup, I saw a coffee stain under the lip. I had been served water in a cup that had already been used to give somebody else coffee! ¡Yuck!
We stopped in Guayaquil to offload some passengers. Oddly, we didn´t pick up anyone else to take them to Quito. They must have sent them all home, since the plane was so late!
We landed in Quito at 9:00 PM, a full six and a half hours later than scheduled. I picked the name of a hotel out of my guide book. I had walked through that neighborhood when I was in Quito and I saw that there were lots of small hotels catering to travelers, as well as restaurants and Internet places.
After the gorgeous room I had in Puerto Ayora, this one was a bit of a comedown, but I was in no mood, at that hour of the night, to go shopping. I checked in and then headed over to an Internet shop to catch up with e-mail.
This being the eve of Thanksgiving, I will take this opportunity to express my thanks that I was able to arrive in Quito all in one piece, even though it was as late and annoying as it was.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
I have been thinking about the possibility of adding Bolivia to my itinerary. If I were lucky, Bolivia would be like Ecuador and Peru in that touristas from the USA don´t need a visa if they are staying for fewer than three months. But there is no way that I should expect that that is the case, so I turned to the Internet to find out about visa requirements and also to see if I could locate the Bolivian embassy in Quito.
In trying to get to the Internet, the first obstacle I hit was a power outage in the neighborhood where I was looking. Ecuador gets all of its electricity from hydroelectric sources, and since the water supply is low, the way that the country deals with this is rationing electricity by having scheduled power outages on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
If I wanted to get on the Internet I would have to find a neighborhood that had power. I took a lucky guess that the nearby wide street was the demarcation of two different neighborhoods. Sure enough, on the other side there was power (for the moment).
While the Internet is an outstanding resource for finding information, the quality of what you find is only as good as whoever is keeping it updated. I Googled "Bolivia embassy Quito Ecuador" to find the address. After I found a site with the address, I thought I should compare it to the information from another site. Sure enough, the embassy´s address on the second site was different.
Okay, then: off to a third site to see if I could find a match for either of the other two. This didn´t help, though, as there was yet another different address for the Bolivian embassy! And, of course, with each address was a different set of telephone numbers.
Similarly, I checked to see if people with passports from the USA needed a visa. Once again, the information online was conflicting. In one place, it said that it was not needed. In another, it explained the (complicated) process for getting the necessary visa.
I went to a place - CABINAS - meaning, literally, telephone booths, where people without their own phones can make calls. I love this aspect of traveling in developing countries, as there are always means with which to make calls.
None of the phone numbers yielded a link to a functioning embassy. The woman who ran the cabinas helped me by looking in the phone book, where the address of the embassy matched one of my addresses, but the phone numbers were different. Upon calling the number in the book, I reached a place that was not the Bolivian embassy.
I walked into the office of a travel agent to see if I could get accurate information. He led me to a link on his computer, indicating that there was currently the need for a visa that costs $135 to go to Bolivia. In my experience, an expensive visa like this indicates only one thing: poor diplomatic relations between the two countries.
I think I am not going to be able to solve this in Quito. I will try when I get to Lima, Peru.
I returned to Megan´s place at noon to help prepare for the Thanksgiving festivities. She was baking an apple crisp and preparing deviled eggs. There was a bit of delay in baking, though, because her neighborhood was lacking electricity until 2:00, so we had to wait until then to turn on the oven.
Thanksgiving was held at the home of the Administrative Officer of Peace Corps Ecuador, and there were plenty of Peace Corps Volunteers on hand for the festivities. It was a wonderful meal in a magnificent apartment overlooking Quito, with plenty of talk concerning the various projects that the PCVs were working on.
In talking with them concerning their work and the relations with local people and culture, it seemed to me that so many stories - no matter what country one is working in - seem to be interchangeable!
I learned, upon speaking to some of the PCVs, that the Peace Corps program in Bolivia had recently been closed down, and some of them had transferred to Ecuador from that program. They referred to the current president of Bolivia as being "anti-American." This is not a surprise, considering that (1) the Peace Corps program has been closed down and (2) the cost of a tourist visa is so high for citizens of the USA.
I am going to have to think about whether or not I really want to go to Bolivia.
Friday, 27 November 2009
My destination for the day was the Centro Historico, the old part of town. On the way there, I stopped for breakfast. When I had finished eating, and asked for a second cup of coffee, I found that I had decided too late to get it: the power had gone out and there was no way to make another cup.
I enjoyed my time in the old part of town. There are lots of photos of the architecture on the photos site.
I did have one unfortunate incident. At one point a passerby pointed to my back. I didn´t understand what he said, but I felt back there and, in so doing, put my hand in a slimy mess. I don´t know what they call it, but I had gotten squirted with some stuff.
This happened to me twice in Buenos Aires, and is usually a ploy to divert the victim´s attention so that when somebody comes to "help him clean up" he gets his pocket picked.
In this case, I had all my belongings. I just had to go to a public men´s room to clean up.
While walking around, I discovered a new taste treat: llapingachos. They are a potato dish, less dense than a knish and in a mound, with a taste like potato pancakes. I ordered one when I saw it in a restaurant window, and it arrived with a side salad. Altogether that was fifty cents!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
My next stop is the town of Baños, where I am writing this now. To get here, I had to take the Quito Trole to a magnificent new bus station, Quitumbe, located south of Quito. I have never seen a station quite like it, as it seemed more like an airport than a bus station.
When I got there and was ready for breakfast, I used my standard question to find out if I would eat: Is the coffee brewed (rather than instant)? They guy told me it was brewed, so I sat down, ordered the meal, and the next thing I knew, he preceded my hot water (in a Sponge Bob Squarepants mug) with a jar of instant coffee!
Yes, that is the way: tell people what they want to hear, not what is the truth.
It got worse, though. As I approached the windows for selling bus tickets, I saw that there was one place that advertised itself as having an express bus: no stops on the way to Baños. All the other ones had several stops. So I decided on the express. A lot of good that did: the bus stopped all over the place en route.
The seats were extremely comfortable. During the first part of the trip, the driver was playing music very loudly. Note to self: take the earplugs from the large bag placed in the luggage compartment under the bus and move them to my carry-on backpack.
At one point, when the driver´s assistant walked down the aisle, I asked politely if it would be possible to lower the music a little. (The Swiss woman across the aisle from me and the couple from Oklahoma who was sitting in front of me thanked me for asking.) As a result, when he got back to the front of the bus, he turned off the music in the main compartment, but I could hear that it was still on in the enclosed area that the driver occupied.
Note to self: move the earplugs from the large bag to the carry-on.
I will stay here in Baños for a few days at the foot of a volcano.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
We had a relaxed trip to the airport this morning - Paulina, Pepe, and me. When we arrived and Paulina went to the desk to check me in she came over to tell me that the departure, scheduled for 10:40, would be delayed by forty minutes. Well, that´s no big deal, as I have experienced worse.
Unfortunately, it didn´t stop there. As the morning wore on, people kept on coming over to say that the delay would be longer. At 12:20, they told us that the incoming flight would be arriving at 1:15. We were to be returning on that same plane.
At 1:10, I went to the counter to inquire, expecting that they would tell me that the flight would arrive in five more minutes. Instead, I learned that it had not yet left Guayaquil!
I borrowed a cell phone to call Megan, my host in Quito, to let her know that I was going to be very late coming back. Additionally, since I didn´t have keys to her apartment, I didn´t want to hold her up in case she wanted to go out this evening.
When I made the call, I accidentally called the wrong number. Instead of calling Megan, I reached the travel agent who had arranged for my Galapagos trip from Quito. She said she had some news for me: she had just realized that the (high) price I had paid for this trip did not include the cost of the airfare! Somebody had mistakenly left that out, and now she wanted me to pay an additional $380!
This was not a good thing to hear, considering how late the flight was and how much I had already paid. I told her that I couldn´t talk to her about that now.
Then I reached Megan, who had plans to go out tonight. I told her not to worry about me, that I would get a hotel room in Quito and then see her tomorrow.
I had been sitting at a table with a guy named Antonio. When I got back to tell him about the additional airfare cost and the need to get a hotel room in Quito, he said, "Your day is getting better."
The airline was handing out sandwiches, but they were tuna, so I didn´t take one.
At 2:00, they told us that the flight had taken off and would arrive at 3:30. By that time, with the flight not yet in, they announced that we could begin going through the security screening process. The flight landed at 3:50. After unloading the passengers and their luggage, we were told that we could board the plane.
They let us board through both the front and rear doors, directing some of us to the front and some to the back. When we got on the plane, though, we realized that the door to which we were sent had no bearing on the part of the plane where our seats were located! As a result, passengers had to squeeze past each other in opposite directions in the crowded aisles to get to their seats.
This is AeroGal (Aerolineas Galapagos), the same airline with the stunningly ineffective check-in process that we went through on the trip from Quito to the Galapagos.
We finally took off at 4:55, which was six hours and five minutes later than the scheduled departure.
When the food service began, I asked about the contents of the sandwiches. It was chicken; there was no vegetarian option available. The travel agent in Quito knew that I was a vegetarian, as I had gone over this with her in order to avoid complications on the ships and in the restaurants in Puerto Ayora.
I would have been happy with a beer on board, but they didn´t have any. Finally, when I got a cup of water, as I was drinking it, I could smell coffee. When I looked at the rim of the cup, I saw a coffee stain under the lip. I had been served water in a cup that had already been used to give somebody else coffee! ¡Yuck!
We stopped in Guayaquil to offload some passengers. Oddly, we didn´t pick up anyone else to take them to Quito. They must have sent them all home, since the plane was so late!
We landed in Quito at 9:00 PM, a full six and a half hours later than scheduled. I picked the name of a hotel out of my guide book. I had walked through that neighborhood when I was in Quito and I saw that there were lots of small hotels catering to travelers, as well as restaurants and Internet places.
After the gorgeous room I had in Puerto Ayora, this one was a bit of a comedown, but I was in no mood, at that hour of the night, to go shopping. I checked in and then headed over to an Internet shop to catch up with e-mail.
This being the eve of Thanksgiving, I will take this opportunity to express my thanks that I was able to arrive in Quito all in one piece, even though it was as late and annoying as it was.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
I have been thinking about the possibility of adding Bolivia to my itinerary. If I were lucky, Bolivia would be like Ecuador and Peru in that touristas from the USA don´t need a visa if they are staying for fewer than three months. But there is no way that I should expect that that is the case, so I turned to the Internet to find out about visa requirements and also to see if I could locate the Bolivian embassy in Quito.
In trying to get to the Internet, the first obstacle I hit was a power outage in the neighborhood where I was looking. Ecuador gets all of its electricity from hydroelectric sources, and since the water supply is low, the way that the country deals with this is rationing electricity by having scheduled power outages on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
If I wanted to get on the Internet I would have to find a neighborhood that had power. I took a lucky guess that the nearby wide street was the demarcation of two different neighborhoods. Sure enough, on the other side there was power (for the moment).
While the Internet is an outstanding resource for finding information, the quality of what you find is only as good as whoever is keeping it updated. I Googled "Bolivia embassy Quito Ecuador" to find the address. After I found a site with the address, I thought I should compare it to the information from another site. Sure enough, the embassy´s address on the second site was different.
Okay, then: off to a third site to see if I could find a match for either of the other two. This didn´t help, though, as there was yet another different address for the Bolivian embassy! And, of course, with each address was a different set of telephone numbers.
Similarly, I checked to see if people with passports from the USA needed a visa. Once again, the information online was conflicting. In one place, it said that it was not needed. In another, it explained the (complicated) process for getting the necessary visa.
I went to a place - CABINAS - meaning, literally, telephone booths, where people without their own phones can make calls. I love this aspect of traveling in developing countries, as there are always means with which to make calls.
None of the phone numbers yielded a link to a functioning embassy. The woman who ran the cabinas helped me by looking in the phone book, where the address of the embassy matched one of my addresses, but the phone numbers were different. Upon calling the number in the book, I reached a place that was not the Bolivian embassy.
I walked into the office of a travel agent to see if I could get accurate information. He led me to a link on his computer, indicating that there was currently the need for a visa that costs $135 to go to Bolivia. In my experience, an expensive visa like this indicates only one thing: poor diplomatic relations between the two countries.
I think I am not going to be able to solve this in Quito. I will try when I get to Lima, Peru.
I returned to Megan´s place at noon to help prepare for the Thanksgiving festivities. She was baking an apple crisp and preparing deviled eggs. There was a bit of delay in baking, though, because her neighborhood was lacking electricity until 2:00, so we had to wait until then to turn on the oven.
Thanksgiving was held at the home of the Administrative Officer of Peace Corps Ecuador, and there were plenty of Peace Corps Volunteers on hand for the festivities. It was a wonderful meal in a magnificent apartment overlooking Quito, with plenty of talk concerning the various projects that the PCVs were working on.
In talking with them concerning their work and the relations with local people and culture, it seemed to me that so many stories - no matter what country one is working in - seem to be interchangeable!
I learned, upon speaking to some of the PCVs, that the Peace Corps program in Bolivia had recently been closed down, and some of them had transferred to Ecuador from that program. They referred to the current president of Bolivia as being "anti-American." This is not a surprise, considering that (1) the Peace Corps program has been closed down and (2) the cost of a tourist visa is so high for citizens of the USA.
I am going to have to think about whether or not I really want to go to Bolivia.
Friday, 27 November 2009
My destination for the day was the Centro Historico, the old part of town. On the way there, I stopped for breakfast. When I had finished eating, and asked for a second cup of coffee, I found that I had decided too late to get it: the power had gone out and there was no way to make another cup.
I enjoyed my time in the old part of town. There are lots of photos of the architecture on the photos site.
I did have one unfortunate incident. At one point a passerby pointed to my back. I didn´t understand what he said, but I felt back there and, in so doing, put my hand in a slimy mess. I don´t know what they call it, but I had gotten squirted with some stuff.
This happened to me twice in Buenos Aires, and is usually a ploy to divert the victim´s attention so that when somebody comes to "help him clean up" he gets his pocket picked.
In this case, I had all my belongings. I just had to go to a public men´s room to clean up.
While walking around, I discovered a new taste treat: llapingachos. They are a potato dish, less dense than a knish and in a mound, with a taste like potato pancakes. I ordered one when I saw it in a restaurant window, and it arrived with a side salad. Altogether that was fifty cents!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
My next stop is the town of Baños, where I am writing this now. To get here, I had to take the Quito Trole to a magnificent new bus station, Quitumbe, located south of Quito. I have never seen a station quite like it, as it seemed more like an airport than a bus station.
When I got there and was ready for breakfast, I used my standard question to find out if I would eat: Is the coffee brewed (rather than instant)? They guy told me it was brewed, so I sat down, ordered the meal, and the next thing I knew, he preceded my hot water (in a Sponge Bob Squarepants mug) with a jar of instant coffee!
Yes, that is the way: tell people what they want to hear, not what is the truth.
It got worse, though. As I approached the windows for selling bus tickets, I saw that there was one place that advertised itself as having an express bus: no stops on the way to Baños. All the other ones had several stops. So I decided on the express. A lot of good that did: the bus stopped all over the place en route.
The seats were extremely comfortable. During the first part of the trip, the driver was playing music very loudly. Note to self: take the earplugs from the large bag placed in the luggage compartment under the bus and move them to my carry-on backpack.
At one point, when the driver´s assistant walked down the aisle, I asked politely if it would be possible to lower the music a little. (The Swiss woman across the aisle from me and the couple from Oklahoma who was sitting in front of me thanked me for asking.) As a result, when he got back to the front of the bus, he turned off the music in the main compartment, but I could hear that it was still on in the enclosed area that the driver occupied.
Note to self: move the earplugs from the large bag to the carry-on.
I will stay here in Baños for a few days at the foot of a volcano.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Ecuador: ¡Galapagos!
¡Galapagos!
Friday, 20 November 2009
When I was considering a trip to Ecuador, I puzzled for a bit concerning whether I would go to the Galapagos or not: I refer to myself as an avid indoorsman. Furthermore, the most common means of transport here is via cruise ship, and there is nothing appealing to me about staying on a boat for anywhere from four to eight days.
When I checked out options online, I was delighted to learn that there was one I had not heard of: staying at a hotel on one of the islands and then visiting the various other islands as day trips.
My friend Donna was particularly surprised when I told her of my plans. She had seen my travel style firsthand when she came to visit me during my Peace Corps service in Mauritania. Together we visited Guinea, The Gambia, and Senegal. Her e-mail to me, upon learning of my plans to visit the Galapagos, said, "Jay, that´s outside, no coffee houses or bookstores, just birds and turtles."
She is, of course, correct in her assessment of both the Galapagos and me. And yet it seemed that as long as I had come this far, it was a must-see iconic destination.
I arrived at the airport in Quito at 6:15 AM to find it in a state of pandemonium. It was as if a group of people had just the day before decided, "Hey, let´s open an airport! That could be fun and probably not too hard."
First of all, those of us passengers for the flight to Baltra (in the Galapagos) and the one to Manta (another city in Ecuador) were all lined up at the same counter and being alternately checked in by the same employee. The Galapagos flight was to depart at 7:50 and the one for Manta was set for 7:oo. By about 6:30, somebody realized that perhaps they should concentrate on the Manta passengers, as they would be leaving first.
Manta passengers continued to show up at the counter until ten minutes before their flight´s scheduled departure!
There is a huge amount of control over passengers going to the Galapagos, and rightly so, as it is a one-of-a-kind place and must continue to be treated with respect. All luggage headed there must be screened for the possibility of containing fruit and vegetables, which could damage the environment. Every passenger must have a specially issued identification card, which means advance planning to obtain it.
There was a short flight to Guayaquil, at which we discharged and picked up passengers, and then a continuing flight to Baltra. All went smoothly and we arrived at 10:00 AM Galapagos time, which is one hour behind mainland Ecuador.
Arrival at Baltra is similar to immigration proceedings when entering a foreign country. Every passenger pays a $100 fee in cash for the right to enter.
My naturalist/guide Paulina was waiting for me with a sign holding my name. I could see right away that she speaks excellent English, so understanding her would not be a problem.
Claiming luggage was a bit of a scurry, as there was luggage of passengers from two different full flights. Before we were able to retrieve our property from the piles of bags, a dog was let loose among them so that he could sniff out any possible contraband.
As our bus left the airport, Paulina explained to me that the island of Balta had been rented to the United States during World War II, during which time it had been used as a military base.
There are roughly 30,000 to 35,000 people living in the Galapagos, and they do so on approximately three per cent of the total land mass, as the rest of the area is national park. About 160,000 tourists come to the Galapagos every year, many of whom are retirees. There has been a decrease recently because of the worldwide financial crisis.
During our 42-kilometer drive to Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the Galapagos, we made a stop to see the Gemelos (twins), two sinkholes on either side of the road; a stop to walk along a trail from which we would be able to see the domeshell tortoises; and a stop for lunch.
By mid-afternoon, Paulina and Pepe, the driver, deposited me at the Galapagos Suites, a beautiful small hotel where I will be staying for the next five nights. I am highly pleased with my attractive room. Before I left my room to check out the town of Puerto Ayora, Narcissa, a hotel employee, came to my room to let me know that I would be picked up at 5:30 AM for tomorrow´s day trip to Bartholome Island. ¡Yikes! ¡That´s early! I guess that is the downside to my choice of being able to sleep on terra firma instead of being constricted to a boat.
The seaside town of Puerto Ayora is home to about 22,000 residents, and has plenty of stores, Internet shops, and restaurants. There are several banks, too. I went into one of them to get some smaller bills and coins for the $20 notes that I had. I was able to get the $5 and $1 notes I wanted, but not the coins. I asked the employee who told me that there were no coins, If the bank doesn´t have them, ¿who does? That got a laugh, but didn´t yield any coins.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Today was a day trip to Bartholome Island. There were eighteen of us tourists, as well as two guides and the boat crew. The visitors represented Ecuador, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and three of us from the USA.
The 3 1/4-hour trip started off well enough. Shortly after we began, at about 7:00 AM, we were served breakfast. The waters were calm as long as we stayed fairly close to the islands. But once we got out into the open sea, it became tumultuous, pitching left and right.
I had to fight to keep my breakfast inside of me, but ultimately it became a battle that I could not win. I`d say I lost my breakfast, but it really wasn`t lost, as I knew exactly where it was: in the black plastic bag that our guide Daniel had given me.
I felt much better after that, and thought it may not be a bad idea to drink a Coca Cola to settle my stomach. This became my third Coca Cola of the century - the other two were during my Peace Corps training in 2003.
Once we got to Bartholome, we got off the boat and were able to climb to the top of the island. Much of the path was a boardwalk that had been constructed in order to be sure that visitors didn`t stray any further than absolutely necessary.
We got to see a fairly good variety of animals; their photos are already up on my photo site.
The guides, boat crew, and other tourists in the group were pleasant and friendly. The only two other Americans were from Tarrytown, New York. They were surprised to hear that I had been there as recently as two weeks ago.
Two of the women were from Barcelona, and one of them had been to San Francisco, so we happily engaged in a conversation about our travels to each other`s home towns. Most of that was in Spanish, but she occasionally tried out her English. At one point, she asked me, "Have you see beer?"
There was a refrigerator on board, in which all the soft drinks, beer, and water was being kept in case anybody wanted to make a purchase. It was very close to us, so I gestured to it and told her it was in there.
This puzzled her. She was incredulous that there would be beer in there. Then she explained, "No! Beer! Beer! Beeg dangerous mammal."
She had wanted to know if I had ever seen a bear! Well, there certainly wasn´t one of those in the refrigerator!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
This was supposed to be a full day with Paulina but I decided to keep it short. We had only one destination: Garrapatero Beach, and since I am not a beach person, I knew I didn´t want to spend much time there.
Paulina, the consummate guide and naturalist, came up with an idea on the way to the beach. ¿Would I like to see a farm that grows coffee and other food? I said I would, so she directed Pepe, our driver, to stop there.
I enjoyed the farm, where they grow coffee, sugar cane, guava, and hot peppers. There are loads of photos, so take a look at the photo link on www.jaydavidson.com.
At Garrapatero Beach, Paulina had two animals she wanted me to see: the flamingo and the land iguana. We were not successful in seeing flamingos, but there was a huge and gorgeous land iguana (photos on the website).
We were back in Puerto Ayora by noon, and I was happy to be able to let Paulina and Pepe to have some time off, as well as to be able to wander around town by myself.
In the afternoon I walked to the nearby Charles Darwin Station, which hosts several buildings for scientific research, as well as some caged tortoises and iguanas. I had already seen many tortoises in the wild, but was happy to see some iguanas with different colorings.
The weather has been great. Temperature has been around the high seventies, so that is good. It´s a little humid, but not too much that I can´t handle it, I have definitely experienced worse humidity than this. My room has air conditioning, which I don´t need for cooling, but is handy for getting the air to be a bit drier.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Today was devoted to a visit to Floreana Island. Most of the islands around here have at least two or three names. On the map, this one is labeled as Santa Maria, underneath which, in small letters, it usually says "(Floreana o Charles)." But Floreana is the name that seems to stick.
Today´s group totalled ten of us, from a large variety of countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, a Canadian originally from Chile, and two of us were from the USA.
The trip from Puerto Ayora to Puerto Velasco Ibarra took two hours, and though the sea was not very smooth, I did not get sick, so that was good.
When we diesmbarked, we had some transport uphill to the Highlands of the island. I had taken an umbrella to protect me from the sun, but little did I know that it would be useful against the rain. It wasn´t coming down hard, but there was a steady drizzle, which contributed to making the path quite slippery. At one point, I slipped and scraped one of my fingers against a sharp volcanic rock. Fortunately the other American in our group had a small first aid kit, so I was able to get the cut cleaned and covered immediately.
We got to see a dozen or so of the local tortoises, who are free to roam in an area that is walled off. There are lots of photos of them on my photo site.
We had lunch in the port town and then headed back to the boat, after which we traveled to a nearby area where most of the other passengers went scuba diving.
The return trip took about an hour and forty minutes, and we got back to Puerto Ayora at about 5:15 PM.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
It was my last full day in the Galapagos, and the plan was to visit North Seymour Island, a small one just north of Baltra, where the airport is located.
This trip was with the Santa Fe II, the same boat as the one to Bartholome a few days ago, but a much shorter trip. The passengers on today´s voyage consisted of a group of fifteen Italians traveling together, two Germans, a couple originally from Russia but now living in Agora Hills, California, and me.
For part of the journey a flock of frigate birds was flying alongside our boat, so I was able to get some good close-up shots.
When we reached the island, Daniel took all the Italians, which left the remaining five of us to Angelica. She was a good naturalist, capable of explaining the differences between male and female birds and iguanas, as well as being able to explain approximate ages of some of the chicks we saw.
In this part of the islands, it was sunny today, which was intensified on the volcanic rock. I was happy to have my umbrella with me to offer some shade.
After walking on the island for more than an hour, we headed back to the boat for lunch. As it was being served, one of the elderly Italian women - she had to be in her seventies - took a flask of some sort out of her handbag, along with a plastic cup. As she poured the contents into the cup, she looked at the group and explained, "Medicina." Right!
Shortly after she had drained the cup, the "medicina" started to take effect and she led us in a rendition of "O solo mio." While the Italians knew the words, the rest of us at least were familiar with the melody, so we were able to "la-la-la" along with it.
Everyone else had fish, but I was happy with the salad and vegetables. While the table was being cleared, the "medicina lady" looked at me and asked, "Where you from?" When I told her that I was from California, she lifted her cup, nodded, smiled, and said, "California! Good medicina."
Then we headed to Las Bachas beach, where everyone but three of the Italians and me got off the boat to go swimming or snorkeling. I was happy to stay under the canopy of the top deck, which I had to myself, and lounge there in the shade with a pleasant breeze. Yes, I am most assuredly in the minority when it comes to my disinterest in sun, sand, and surf.
Now, in the evening, my face feels like it is on fire. Despite the fact that I was shaded under the umbrella on North Seymour Island, I got burned. ¿Can the rays really penetrate an umbrella? ¡I guess they can!
Friday, 20 November 2009
When I was considering a trip to Ecuador, I puzzled for a bit concerning whether I would go to the Galapagos or not: I refer to myself as an avid indoorsman. Furthermore, the most common means of transport here is via cruise ship, and there is nothing appealing to me about staying on a boat for anywhere from four to eight days.
When I checked out options online, I was delighted to learn that there was one I had not heard of: staying at a hotel on one of the islands and then visiting the various other islands as day trips.
My friend Donna was particularly surprised when I told her of my plans. She had seen my travel style firsthand when she came to visit me during my Peace Corps service in Mauritania. Together we visited Guinea, The Gambia, and Senegal. Her e-mail to me, upon learning of my plans to visit the Galapagos, said, "Jay, that´s outside, no coffee houses or bookstores, just birds and turtles."
She is, of course, correct in her assessment of both the Galapagos and me. And yet it seemed that as long as I had come this far, it was a must-see iconic destination.
I arrived at the airport in Quito at 6:15 AM to find it in a state of pandemonium. It was as if a group of people had just the day before decided, "Hey, let´s open an airport! That could be fun and probably not too hard."
First of all, those of us passengers for the flight to Baltra (in the Galapagos) and the one to Manta (another city in Ecuador) were all lined up at the same counter and being alternately checked in by the same employee. The Galapagos flight was to depart at 7:50 and the one for Manta was set for 7:oo. By about 6:30, somebody realized that perhaps they should concentrate on the Manta passengers, as they would be leaving first.
Manta passengers continued to show up at the counter until ten minutes before their flight´s scheduled departure!
There is a huge amount of control over passengers going to the Galapagos, and rightly so, as it is a one-of-a-kind place and must continue to be treated with respect. All luggage headed there must be screened for the possibility of containing fruit and vegetables, which could damage the environment. Every passenger must have a specially issued identification card, which means advance planning to obtain it.
There was a short flight to Guayaquil, at which we discharged and picked up passengers, and then a continuing flight to Baltra. All went smoothly and we arrived at 10:00 AM Galapagos time, which is one hour behind mainland Ecuador.
Arrival at Baltra is similar to immigration proceedings when entering a foreign country. Every passenger pays a $100 fee in cash for the right to enter.
My naturalist/guide Paulina was waiting for me with a sign holding my name. I could see right away that she speaks excellent English, so understanding her would not be a problem.
Claiming luggage was a bit of a scurry, as there was luggage of passengers from two different full flights. Before we were able to retrieve our property from the piles of bags, a dog was let loose among them so that he could sniff out any possible contraband.
As our bus left the airport, Paulina explained to me that the island of Balta had been rented to the United States during World War II, during which time it had been used as a military base.
There are roughly 30,000 to 35,000 people living in the Galapagos, and they do so on approximately three per cent of the total land mass, as the rest of the area is national park. About 160,000 tourists come to the Galapagos every year, many of whom are retirees. There has been a decrease recently because of the worldwide financial crisis.
During our 42-kilometer drive to Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the Galapagos, we made a stop to see the Gemelos (twins), two sinkholes on either side of the road; a stop to walk along a trail from which we would be able to see the domeshell tortoises; and a stop for lunch.
By mid-afternoon, Paulina and Pepe, the driver, deposited me at the Galapagos Suites, a beautiful small hotel where I will be staying for the next five nights. I am highly pleased with my attractive room. Before I left my room to check out the town of Puerto Ayora, Narcissa, a hotel employee, came to my room to let me know that I would be picked up at 5:30 AM for tomorrow´s day trip to Bartholome Island. ¡Yikes! ¡That´s early! I guess that is the downside to my choice of being able to sleep on terra firma instead of being constricted to a boat.
The seaside town of Puerto Ayora is home to about 22,000 residents, and has plenty of stores, Internet shops, and restaurants. There are several banks, too. I went into one of them to get some smaller bills and coins for the $20 notes that I had. I was able to get the $5 and $1 notes I wanted, but not the coins. I asked the employee who told me that there were no coins, If the bank doesn´t have them, ¿who does? That got a laugh, but didn´t yield any coins.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Today was a day trip to Bartholome Island. There were eighteen of us tourists, as well as two guides and the boat crew. The visitors represented Ecuador, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and three of us from the USA.
The 3 1/4-hour trip started off well enough. Shortly after we began, at about 7:00 AM, we were served breakfast. The waters were calm as long as we stayed fairly close to the islands. But once we got out into the open sea, it became tumultuous, pitching left and right.
I had to fight to keep my breakfast inside of me, but ultimately it became a battle that I could not win. I`d say I lost my breakfast, but it really wasn`t lost, as I knew exactly where it was: in the black plastic bag that our guide Daniel had given me.
I felt much better after that, and thought it may not be a bad idea to drink a Coca Cola to settle my stomach. This became my third Coca Cola of the century - the other two were during my Peace Corps training in 2003.
Once we got to Bartholome, we got off the boat and were able to climb to the top of the island. Much of the path was a boardwalk that had been constructed in order to be sure that visitors didn`t stray any further than absolutely necessary.
We got to see a fairly good variety of animals; their photos are already up on my photo site.
The guides, boat crew, and other tourists in the group were pleasant and friendly. The only two other Americans were from Tarrytown, New York. They were surprised to hear that I had been there as recently as two weeks ago.
Two of the women were from Barcelona, and one of them had been to San Francisco, so we happily engaged in a conversation about our travels to each other`s home towns. Most of that was in Spanish, but she occasionally tried out her English. At one point, she asked me, "Have you see beer?"
There was a refrigerator on board, in which all the soft drinks, beer, and water was being kept in case anybody wanted to make a purchase. It was very close to us, so I gestured to it and told her it was in there.
This puzzled her. She was incredulous that there would be beer in there. Then she explained, "No! Beer! Beer! Beeg dangerous mammal."
She had wanted to know if I had ever seen a bear! Well, there certainly wasn´t one of those in the refrigerator!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
This was supposed to be a full day with Paulina but I decided to keep it short. We had only one destination: Garrapatero Beach, and since I am not a beach person, I knew I didn´t want to spend much time there.
Paulina, the consummate guide and naturalist, came up with an idea on the way to the beach. ¿Would I like to see a farm that grows coffee and other food? I said I would, so she directed Pepe, our driver, to stop there.
I enjoyed the farm, where they grow coffee, sugar cane, guava, and hot peppers. There are loads of photos, so take a look at the photo link on www.jaydavidson.com.
At Garrapatero Beach, Paulina had two animals she wanted me to see: the flamingo and the land iguana. We were not successful in seeing flamingos, but there was a huge and gorgeous land iguana (photos on the website).
We were back in Puerto Ayora by noon, and I was happy to be able to let Paulina and Pepe to have some time off, as well as to be able to wander around town by myself.
In the afternoon I walked to the nearby Charles Darwin Station, which hosts several buildings for scientific research, as well as some caged tortoises and iguanas. I had already seen many tortoises in the wild, but was happy to see some iguanas with different colorings.
The weather has been great. Temperature has been around the high seventies, so that is good. It´s a little humid, but not too much that I can´t handle it, I have definitely experienced worse humidity than this. My room has air conditioning, which I don´t need for cooling, but is handy for getting the air to be a bit drier.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Today was devoted to a visit to Floreana Island. Most of the islands around here have at least two or three names. On the map, this one is labeled as Santa Maria, underneath which, in small letters, it usually says "(Floreana o Charles)." But Floreana is the name that seems to stick.
Today´s group totalled ten of us, from a large variety of countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, a Canadian originally from Chile, and two of us were from the USA.
The trip from Puerto Ayora to Puerto Velasco Ibarra took two hours, and though the sea was not very smooth, I did not get sick, so that was good.
When we diesmbarked, we had some transport uphill to the Highlands of the island. I had taken an umbrella to protect me from the sun, but little did I know that it would be useful against the rain. It wasn´t coming down hard, but there was a steady drizzle, which contributed to making the path quite slippery. At one point, I slipped and scraped one of my fingers against a sharp volcanic rock. Fortunately the other American in our group had a small first aid kit, so I was able to get the cut cleaned and covered immediately.
We got to see a dozen or so of the local tortoises, who are free to roam in an area that is walled off. There are lots of photos of them on my photo site.
We had lunch in the port town and then headed back to the boat, after which we traveled to a nearby area where most of the other passengers went scuba diving.
The return trip took about an hour and forty minutes, and we got back to Puerto Ayora at about 5:15 PM.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
It was my last full day in the Galapagos, and the plan was to visit North Seymour Island, a small one just north of Baltra, where the airport is located.
This trip was with the Santa Fe II, the same boat as the one to Bartholome a few days ago, but a much shorter trip. The passengers on today´s voyage consisted of a group of fifteen Italians traveling together, two Germans, a couple originally from Russia but now living in Agora Hills, California, and me.
For part of the journey a flock of frigate birds was flying alongside our boat, so I was able to get some good close-up shots.
When we reached the island, Daniel took all the Italians, which left the remaining five of us to Angelica. She was a good naturalist, capable of explaining the differences between male and female birds and iguanas, as well as being able to explain approximate ages of some of the chicks we saw.
In this part of the islands, it was sunny today, which was intensified on the volcanic rock. I was happy to have my umbrella with me to offer some shade.
After walking on the island for more than an hour, we headed back to the boat for lunch. As it was being served, one of the elderly Italian women - she had to be in her seventies - took a flask of some sort out of her handbag, along with a plastic cup. As she poured the contents into the cup, she looked at the group and explained, "Medicina." Right!
Shortly after she had drained the cup, the "medicina" started to take effect and she led us in a rendition of "O solo mio." While the Italians knew the words, the rest of us at least were familiar with the melody, so we were able to "la-la-la" along with it.
Everyone else had fish, but I was happy with the salad and vegetables. While the table was being cleared, the "medicina lady" looked at me and asked, "Where you from?" When I told her that I was from California, she lifted her cup, nodded, smiled, and said, "California! Good medicina."
Then we headed to Las Bachas beach, where everyone but three of the Italians and me got off the boat to go swimming or snorkeling. I was happy to stay under the canopy of the top deck, which I had to myself, and lounge there in the shade with a pleasant breeze. Yes, I am most assuredly in the minority when it comes to my disinterest in sun, sand, and surf.
Now, in the evening, my face feels like it is on fire. Despite the fact that I was shaded under the umbrella on North Seymour Island, I got burned. ¿Can the rays really penetrate an umbrella? ¡I guess they can!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Ecuador: First days in Quito
Monday, 16 November 2009
All went smoothly on the flights. First was from New York´s JFK to Atlanta. I was happily upgraded to the first class cabin. The best part of that, other than the more spacious seat, is that they start handing out beverages immediately.
The flight attendant told my seatmate about a drink that was invented by a Delta Airlines flight attendant. Called It´s Five O´Clock Somewhere, it is made with rum and some juices. I thought I´d give it a try, and it was tasty. It wasn´t five o´clock where I was drinking it though, as it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. Close enough.
The connection in Atlanta was a tight one, and by the time I got from the arrival gate to the new terminal, the plane was being boarded. On the second plane - this one was to Quito - I was also upgraded. It was also a more comfortable plane and it had individually controlled screens for each seat.
I am not a regular viewer of television, as I don´t even have one at home. I do sometimes watch when I travel. Two of the channels I have seen were represented among the choices offered: Discovery and HGTV. I get a kick out of seeing all the home renovations on HGTV.
One of the shows I saw involved the renovation of a $220,000 home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I guess I have been living too long in San Francisco, as that price couldn't even buy a parking space where I live. The much smaller home that I bought in Palo Alto in 1991 cost $100,000 more than that!
We arrived in Quito on time (11:10 PM). I had arranged for a hotel room in advance because of the late arrival, and they sent a driver to pick me up. This would have worked out better if the driver were on time, as I had to wait for half an hour after I cleared customs with my baggage.
By the time we were on the road from the airport, the streets were very quiet indeed. Having come from the city that never sleeps, it was a drastic change.
I didn´t have to stop at an ATM, as I already had US dollars in my pocket, since they have been the legal currency of Ecuador since 2000. The bills used are only US dollars, yet the coins, which are the same denominations for US and Ecuadorean pieces, are interchangeable.
Even though I was tired, I found it hard to get to sleep. I think that the elevation was a contributing factor. I found myself, even lying still, having shortness of breath. I know I was still awake at 2:00 AM, which was the last time I remember looking at the clock.
In the morning, I was up at dawn´s first light, which was 5:45! I was able to fall back asleep for about an hour and a half.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Today I wasn't good for very much. I headed to the downtown area and walked around. After checking out the local clubhouse of the South American Explorers Club I simply continued walking aimlessly around the town to see what it was like.
Several of the main streets have dedicated bus lanes which help to speed the bus traffic. It is great to be on a bus and not have to be enmeshed in the heavy traffic on the other parts of the roadways. These operate along the lines of streetcar tracks, but there are no tracks. Passengers board from raised platforms, and they pay their fares when they enter those platforms, so there is no further payments involved once they get on the bus. The stops for these buses are fairly spread out, so they function similarly to the express subway trains in New York and the limited buses in San Francisco and other cities. Bus fare within the city is 25 cents; the senior citizen fare is 12 cents.
Every once in a while I have heard a cell phone ring or beep, then touched my pocket and happily remembered that I was not carrying mine, as I had left it in New York. Something else I have happily left behind are "the holidays," which, if you look in any retail outlet in the USA, usually begin in October. I am so-o-o-o-o-o grateful to be away from that oppressive atmosphere! (Since 2002, the only year I have been in the USA during the month of December has been 2005.)
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
My original plan for the day was to wander over to the old part of Quito, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and spend most of the day taking that in.
After breakfast, though, I was at the hotel's front desk when I heard Bernardo, the hotel manager, explaining to Darren, a British guy who was staying at the hotel, how to get to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (City in the Middle of the World), which is a fair bit out of town and one of those must-see destinations in the Quito area.
I was going to be heading out there at some point anyway, and since Darren was considering a $15 taxi ride to get there, I asked if he wanted company and somebody to share the cost of the taxi. He agreed.
Ciudad Mitad del Mundo sits at the intersection of kitsch and science. A tower with an ethnography museum inside sits on "the equator," where tourists line up to have their photos taken behind a sign showing them at Latitude 0º 0´ 0". According to the Lonely Planet guidebook, "La Mitad del Mundo is not on the equator - but it's close. Global Positioning System (GPS) devices show that it's only about 240m off the mark. And no one who sees the photos of you straddling the equator has to know this, right?"
Darren and I took our time, looking around the various buildings that could just as easily have been called Disney Equator Mundo, complete with planetarium, exhibition halls, and more restaurants and gift shops than anyone needs. After we left that site, we headed east those 240 meters to Museo de Sitio Inti Ñan, which claims to have the equator running through it. This place offers several scientific experiments to "prove" to all that the real equator is right there on their property.
Most people are aware of the folklore wisdom (which, by the way, has been scientifically proven not to be true) that water goes down a drain in a counterclockwise direction north of the equator and clockwise south of the equator. To "prove" that we were on the equator, one of the guides had a portable sink, a bucket of water, and a few small leaves. When she positioned the sink on the south side of the equator it drained clockwise; to the north of the equator it drained counterclockwise. And what do you suppose happened when she drained it as it was positioned directly on the equator? The water went straight down the drain without a swirl in any direction.
Another bit of lore - and I don't know how scientific this one can be - is that an egg can be balanced on its end only at the equator because of gravitational forces being what they are in this unique place. This little outdoor museum had some nails hammered into a piece of wood, and I was able to get a raw egg to balance on the flat head of a nail.
Once finished with this area, Darren and I headed back to Quito via bus, which took a bit longer than the taxi, and cost only forty cents.
*****
When was the last time you saw a golden Sacajawea one-dollar coin? Probably some time ago, as many Americans do not like using $1 coins. I just wanted to let you know that they didn't fall off the face of the earth or get locked up in some vault in the USA: they are all in Ecuador. I have been getting them as change all the time!
*****
In the evening I took a taxi to the home of Megan, who is a friend of my friend Jeff. Both of them served in Peace Corps Ukraine. When I told Jeff that I was coming here, he suggested that I contact her, and she invited me to spend a few nights at her place. This is very typical Peace Corps hospitality, and I love the ease with which Returned Peace Corps Volunteers open their hearts, homes, and lives to each other simply on the strength of having a mutual friend.
One of the career tracks for many RPCVs is the Foreign Service. I have Peace Corps Mauritania friends who are now posted at US embassies on four continents. Quito is Megan's first post.
Megan made me feel at home immediately and showed me around her magnificent apartment with vistas overlooking much of Quito.
We went out for dinner to a Lebanese restaurant she had been wanting to try. Good pick, as Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food is my favorite. We enjoyed trading stories about Peace Corps and I especially enjoyed hearing about her perspectives about the Foreign Service Institute and the way that the State Department works.
I had one of those "¿Where am I?" moments, in that we were two Americans eating in a Lebanese restaurant in Quito.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
I have not been sleeping well. This is said to be one of the effects of entry into this high altitude. Last night I was able to fall asleep before 10:30, but this morning I awoke at 2:30 and was unable to get back to sleep.
I am learning some helpful new vocabulary. On a sign shortly after I arrived, I noticed the phrase "tercera edad," which I wouldn´t have been able to come up with myself but was able to figure out that it meant, literally, "third stage," and refers to being a senior citizen. There are generous discounts on admissions to seniors, and I have so far not been questioned about my exact age when I have asked for the tercera edad admission fee.
I prefer not to drink instant coffee, which I know would be referred to as "cafe en polvo," meaning powdered. But I had no idea how to ask for filtered or perked coffee. I asked one if the coffee was en polvo and was told, "No, es pasado," meaning that it is "passed," as in passed through a filter.
But that doesn´t end it with the coffee. They ask if I want it in water or milk. I saw another customer in a restaurant get a cup of hot milk; next to that was a decanter that looked like soy sauce. It was the concentrated coffee that had been previously filtered and could be added, according to desired strength, to the milk. Ask for it with water and you get a cup of hot water along with the concentrated coffee.
I never knew the Spanish word for a tip, as given in a restaurant. Some restaurants include a service charge, but there should be a small tip added to that.
I had a minor problem with somebody´s English. I had to pick up some documents at a travel agent´s office. She told me to pick them up, "by 3:00" on Thursday. I got there at 11:00 AM, which was (in American English, anyway) "by 3:00." In doing so, I learned that what she really meant was to pick them up "at 3:00."
All went smoothly on the flights. First was from New York´s JFK to Atlanta. I was happily upgraded to the first class cabin. The best part of that, other than the more spacious seat, is that they start handing out beverages immediately.
The flight attendant told my seatmate about a drink that was invented by a Delta Airlines flight attendant. Called It´s Five O´Clock Somewhere, it is made with rum and some juices. I thought I´d give it a try, and it was tasty. It wasn´t five o´clock where I was drinking it though, as it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. Close enough.
The connection in Atlanta was a tight one, and by the time I got from the arrival gate to the new terminal, the plane was being boarded. On the second plane - this one was to Quito - I was also upgraded. It was also a more comfortable plane and it had individually controlled screens for each seat.
I am not a regular viewer of television, as I don´t even have one at home. I do sometimes watch when I travel. Two of the channels I have seen were represented among the choices offered: Discovery and HGTV. I get a kick out of seeing all the home renovations on HGTV.
One of the shows I saw involved the renovation of a $220,000 home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I guess I have been living too long in San Francisco, as that price couldn't even buy a parking space where I live. The much smaller home that I bought in Palo Alto in 1991 cost $100,000 more than that!
We arrived in Quito on time (11:10 PM). I had arranged for a hotel room in advance because of the late arrival, and they sent a driver to pick me up. This would have worked out better if the driver were on time, as I had to wait for half an hour after I cleared customs with my baggage.
By the time we were on the road from the airport, the streets were very quiet indeed. Having come from the city that never sleeps, it was a drastic change.
I didn´t have to stop at an ATM, as I already had US dollars in my pocket, since they have been the legal currency of Ecuador since 2000. The bills used are only US dollars, yet the coins, which are the same denominations for US and Ecuadorean pieces, are interchangeable.
Even though I was tired, I found it hard to get to sleep. I think that the elevation was a contributing factor. I found myself, even lying still, having shortness of breath. I know I was still awake at 2:00 AM, which was the last time I remember looking at the clock.
In the morning, I was up at dawn´s first light, which was 5:45! I was able to fall back asleep for about an hour and a half.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Today I wasn't good for very much. I headed to the downtown area and walked around. After checking out the local clubhouse of the South American Explorers Club I simply continued walking aimlessly around the town to see what it was like.
Several of the main streets have dedicated bus lanes which help to speed the bus traffic. It is great to be on a bus and not have to be enmeshed in the heavy traffic on the other parts of the roadways. These operate along the lines of streetcar tracks, but there are no tracks. Passengers board from raised platforms, and they pay their fares when they enter those platforms, so there is no further payments involved once they get on the bus. The stops for these buses are fairly spread out, so they function similarly to the express subway trains in New York and the limited buses in San Francisco and other cities. Bus fare within the city is 25 cents; the senior citizen fare is 12 cents.
Every once in a while I have heard a cell phone ring or beep, then touched my pocket and happily remembered that I was not carrying mine, as I had left it in New York. Something else I have happily left behind are "the holidays," which, if you look in any retail outlet in the USA, usually begin in October. I am so-o-o-o-o-o grateful to be away from that oppressive atmosphere! (Since 2002, the only year I have been in the USA during the month of December has been 2005.)
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
My original plan for the day was to wander over to the old part of Quito, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and spend most of the day taking that in.
After breakfast, though, I was at the hotel's front desk when I heard Bernardo, the hotel manager, explaining to Darren, a British guy who was staying at the hotel, how to get to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (City in the Middle of the World), which is a fair bit out of town and one of those must-see destinations in the Quito area.
I was going to be heading out there at some point anyway, and since Darren was considering a $15 taxi ride to get there, I asked if he wanted company and somebody to share the cost of the taxi. He agreed.
Ciudad Mitad del Mundo sits at the intersection of kitsch and science. A tower with an ethnography museum inside sits on "the equator," where tourists line up to have their photos taken behind a sign showing them at Latitude 0º 0´ 0". According to the Lonely Planet guidebook, "La Mitad del Mundo is not on the equator - but it's close. Global Positioning System (GPS) devices show that it's only about 240m off the mark. And no one who sees the photos of you straddling the equator has to know this, right?"
Darren and I took our time, looking around the various buildings that could just as easily have been called Disney Equator Mundo, complete with planetarium, exhibition halls, and more restaurants and gift shops than anyone needs. After we left that site, we headed east those 240 meters to Museo de Sitio Inti Ñan, which claims to have the equator running through it. This place offers several scientific experiments to "prove" to all that the real equator is right there on their property.
Most people are aware of the folklore wisdom (which, by the way, has been scientifically proven not to be true) that water goes down a drain in a counterclockwise direction north of the equator and clockwise south of the equator. To "prove" that we were on the equator, one of the guides had a portable sink, a bucket of water, and a few small leaves. When she positioned the sink on the south side of the equator it drained clockwise; to the north of the equator it drained counterclockwise. And what do you suppose happened when she drained it as it was positioned directly on the equator? The water went straight down the drain without a swirl in any direction.
Another bit of lore - and I don't know how scientific this one can be - is that an egg can be balanced on its end only at the equator because of gravitational forces being what they are in this unique place. This little outdoor museum had some nails hammered into a piece of wood, and I was able to get a raw egg to balance on the flat head of a nail.
Once finished with this area, Darren and I headed back to Quito via bus, which took a bit longer than the taxi, and cost only forty cents.
*****
When was the last time you saw a golden Sacajawea one-dollar coin? Probably some time ago, as many Americans do not like using $1 coins. I just wanted to let you know that they didn't fall off the face of the earth or get locked up in some vault in the USA: they are all in Ecuador. I have been getting them as change all the time!
*****
In the evening I took a taxi to the home of Megan, who is a friend of my friend Jeff. Both of them served in Peace Corps Ukraine. When I told Jeff that I was coming here, he suggested that I contact her, and she invited me to spend a few nights at her place. This is very typical Peace Corps hospitality, and I love the ease with which Returned Peace Corps Volunteers open their hearts, homes, and lives to each other simply on the strength of having a mutual friend.
One of the career tracks for many RPCVs is the Foreign Service. I have Peace Corps Mauritania friends who are now posted at US embassies on four continents. Quito is Megan's first post.
Megan made me feel at home immediately and showed me around her magnificent apartment with vistas overlooking much of Quito.
We went out for dinner to a Lebanese restaurant she had been wanting to try. Good pick, as Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food is my favorite. We enjoyed trading stories about Peace Corps and I especially enjoyed hearing about her perspectives about the Foreign Service Institute and the way that the State Department works.
I had one of those "¿Where am I?" moments, in that we were two Americans eating in a Lebanese restaurant in Quito.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
I have not been sleeping well. This is said to be one of the effects of entry into this high altitude. Last night I was able to fall asleep before 10:30, but this morning I awoke at 2:30 and was unable to get back to sleep.
I am learning some helpful new vocabulary. On a sign shortly after I arrived, I noticed the phrase "tercera edad," which I wouldn´t have been able to come up with myself but was able to figure out that it meant, literally, "third stage," and refers to being a senior citizen. There are generous discounts on admissions to seniors, and I have so far not been questioned about my exact age when I have asked for the tercera edad admission fee.
I prefer not to drink instant coffee, which I know would be referred to as "cafe en polvo," meaning powdered. But I had no idea how to ask for filtered or perked coffee. I asked one if the coffee was en polvo and was told, "No, es pasado," meaning that it is "passed," as in passed through a filter.
But that doesn´t end it with the coffee. They ask if I want it in water or milk. I saw another customer in a restaurant get a cup of hot milk; next to that was a decanter that looked like soy sauce. It was the concentrated coffee that had been previously filtered and could be added, according to desired strength, to the milk. Ask for it with water and you get a cup of hot water along with the concentrated coffee.
I never knew the Spanish word for a tip, as given in a restaurant. Some restaurants include a service charge, but there should be a small tip added to that.
I had a minor problem with somebody´s English. I had to pick up some documents at a travel agent´s office. She told me to pick them up, "by 3:00" on Thursday. I got there at 11:00 AM, which was (in American English, anyway) "by 3:00." In doing so, I learned that what she really meant was to pick them up "at 3:00."
Friday, 20 November 2009
Off I go to the Galapagos! I will write from there.
Monday, August 31, 2009
South Africa: Volunteer with Teach With Africa in Cape Town
Exciting news: I have just accepted an invitation to become a 2009 Teach with Africa Fellow (http://www.teachwithafrica.org/) and will be working in Cape Town, South Africa during the upcoming northern hemisphere summer. Here is some information about the organization, the school where I will be working, and my job:
Teach with Africa
Teach with Africa works in South Africa as part of the ongoing effort to upgrade the education system in post-apartheid South Africa. Its job is both tremendous and crucial. As Nelson Mandela recognized, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."
The middle word in the organization's name, though short and common, is an important one: the organization is in an ongoing partnership with the local schools, as opposed to being people who are imported for their expertise and then go home.
LEAP Schools
The barriers in modern-day South Africa are enormous and reach across economic and social lines. In 2004, John Gilmour, a white South African, took the initiative and started LEAP Science and Maths School. The emphasis on science and math (usually referred to as "maths" in British Commonwealth countries) was pointed: under apartheid, Black Africans were forbidden to study beyond basic arithmetic ability, for the fear that an educated population would be dangerous to the supremacy of the white government. You can find the schools on the Internet at http://www.leapschool.org.za/.
The LEAP Schools (there are now two in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg) double the class time in both science and math subjects taught during an extended learning day that begins at 7:00 AM and doesn't end until 5:00 PM.
The long day and double math and science coursework are features of the first focus that distinguishes LEAP Schools from all others in South Africa. English is an important focus, as many students come from families that do not speak English in the home. This cluster of academics is in place for the purpose of catching up the students to the national average.
Personal responsibility is the second focus that sets apart the LEAP Schools. It is taught through a series of sessions referred to as Life Orientation, or "L.O.," which is a melange of approaches that may be compared to both tough love and group therapy. L. O. is a response to the emotional and psychological needs of the students, many of whom have had brutal childhoods and come from situations in which it would be easy to place the blame for their current situation on others. Take, for one example, that almost one-third of the students are AIDS orphans. The LEAP Schools don't permit the students to get away with accusing others for their lot in life.
The third LEAP Schools focus takes personal responsibility and moves it into the community in the form of social responsibility. This program may be compared to service learning that has become popular in many American high schools in recent years. It differs, however, in that there is no accounting for a number of hours that has to be reached and thenafter the project is abandoned. Social responsibility charges each student with a weekly task in her/his own home neighborhood. The venues for these programs range from pre-schools to peer tutoring to working with people in parole programs.
Collectively, the Teach With Africa participants, of which there will be about twenty this summer, are called "educators" rather than "teachers." The purpose of this is to pay respect to the various aspects of education from which they come. Some, like me, are classroom teachers. Others include psychologists and, in a move that I believe is both innovative and laudable, there are graduate students enrolled in a Green MBA program. It is the grad students who will spearhead the efforts toward entrepreneurship training and support, which focuses on small business development, sustainability, and education on green issues. There is a wide variety of projects that fall under this umbrella, including small business workshops, manufacturing, student entrepreneurship, and support for both marketing and business planning.
My work
I had an interview of more than two hours with both the founder and the executive director of Teach with Africa. During our time together, we discussed my experience and interests. As a result, we came up with these possibilities for the focus of my work this July and August:
*English classroom teaching with LEAP faculty
*English tutoring
*teacher training workshops; one possible topic is Multiple Intelligences
*assembling a Cross Culture manual based on South Africa, with the dual purpose of giving students an opportunity to reflect on the aspects of their own culture and improving their writing in English
*using Toastmasters as a model to help improve students' public speaking skills
One of the aspects of my work about which I am most enthusiastic is that I am going to be a member of a team. Though my specific teaching projects may be highly individualized, I will be living communally with the other Teach with Africa Fellows.
This approach differs significantly from my previous work with the Peace Corps, where I was part of a large group, but we were all living independently from each other, and with the American Jewish World Service, where I was basically an independent contractor.
Teach with Africa has been reasonably successful in its fundraising and grant-writing efforts. As such, they will fund the airfare and housing of our group, as well as offering us a stipend that will cover much of our food and local transportation expenses.
How you can help
Teach with Africa is always grateful to receive donations to fund additional Fellows in order to enrich the lives of even more children whose lives have been devastated by the legacy of apartheid. Just click on the Contributions page on the Teach with Africa website, http://www.teachwithafrica.org/.
In order to encourage you to contribute, and to show my commitment to this program, I pledge to match any donations made by my family members and friends through the end of May (to a maximum personal contribution of $1,000) . So you have plenty of time to figure out your finances and see how you can help in this effort.
Monday, 29 June 2009
I had asked my downstairs neighbor, Jim, if he could drive me to BART so I could get my early (7:35 AM) flight. Jim is a habitual early riser, so I knew that I would not upset his sleep schedule if he drove me to the nearby station at 5:30 AM. He agreed.
When we went to his car, however, he informed me that he was driving me directly to the airport. That was wonderful to hear, as I had two large bags because I am going to be gone for two months and in a cold-weather climate, which demands lots of clothing. Hence, I needed lots of luggage space.
Most of us in the Teach with Africa group were leaving from San Francisco. Once we found each other at the airport, there was a high level of anticipation, excitement, and espirit de corps. It reminded me a little of the Peace Corps departure experience, in that I was embarking on this trip to Africa as part of a group.
There were three flights that comprised this epic twenty-four hour journey:
First, we flew for four hours to Atlanta. Once there, we had less than an hour to get to the international terminal for the second flight, which was to be eight hours to Dakar, Senegal. In Dakar, we waited for an hour and a half on the tarmac for the plane to be serviced, cleaned, receive its new crew, and have food loaded on for the final leg, which was yet another eight hours, this time to Cape Town.
I was mostly lucky with my seating. From San Francisco to Atlanta, I was in an aisle seat in an exit row, with lots of the extra legroom that I appreciate so much. I was not as lucky for the first three hours from Atlanta to Dakar, in that I was in a window seat on a plane that had zero empty seats.
At the end of those first three hours, I got up and spoke with Amy, the Executive Director of Teach with Africa. I told her that all was fine, except that I was in a window seat and would prefer the aisle. She replied, "Joy desperately wanted a window seat. She's on an aisle."
Excellent news for me! I spoke to Joy and then we switched seats.
While we were waiting in Dakar, I learned that Eugene, another member of our group, had been in an aisle seat in an exit row, but couldn't stay there. I then moved to his seat for that entire flight.
The better seating made the journey more tolerable, but, truth to tell, seventeen hours on the same plane could only have been improved by being in a horizontal first class seat.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
We arrived in Cape Town almost exactly twenty-four hours after the first plane departed from San Francisco. Once in Cape Town, the arrival formalities went smoothly, and were a bit lax. For example, the customs official who stamped my passport asked to see my proof of return ticket home. I looked through my papers and didn't have a copy of my itinerary.
That didn't faze him. "Make sure you have it with you next time," he advised. And then he let me proceed to the next area.
A small group of students from the Leap School, where we will be teaching, greeted us at the airport and sang for us. John Gilmour, the school's founder, and Toutsie, one of the teachers, were part of our welcoming committee and sang with the students. Sasho and Subina have uploaded the short video at http://greenmbainsouthafrica.blogspot.com/.
The weather is unseasonably warm. It was in the high seventies (F), but should typically be in the fifties. We will enjoy it while we can.
By the time we arrived at the Beulah Lodge, our home for the next two months, it was a little bit after 6:00 PM and already starting to get dark. Remember, it is winter here and just past the winter solstace. We will have limited, but slowly inreasing, daylight hours.
The lodge is beautiful in many ways, and well-appointed. The larger building houses a few of the guest rooms, but most of us are in a smaller building next door, where there are two lounges, a large kitchen, and all the remaining rooms.
I am in the only upstairs room, which is sort-of a double and sort-of a quad. Aaronthomas (also known as A. T.) and I have our beds on the left side of the landing; we have a door that can make it private. Amy, the TWA Executive Directory, informed me that for one month of our stay here, A. T. is going to be working at the new Leap School in Johannesburg, so I will then have this room to myself.
On the right side of the landing are Sasho and Dom's beds, as well as the bathroom that the four of us will share.
Though the lodge is clean and well-appointed, there are a few ideosyncracies that make it weird to negotiate: the light switches are in odd places, there is only one electrical outlet in each room, my room has no drawer space (but it does have a double closet, affording both A. T. and me with both hanging space and shelves). The only switch that turns on the bathroom light also illuminates the ceiling light in the part of the room where Dom and Sasho sleep; we solved that problem by unscrewing the overhead bulb, which means that they will have to light the room with their table lamp. Otherwise, if you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you would have to turn on their room light as well.
The kitchen is large and modern, with light IKEA-type cabinets and drawers. The counter space is black speckled granite, which adds to the handsome appearance of the room. The layout doesn't function well, in that the sink and refrigerator are in an alcove far from the stove.
Isak, the owner of the lodge, met with all of us and explained some of the lodge's operating procedures. When he informed us that there was wireless Internet access, Amy asked how many people had laptops with them. All the hands went up, except mine. Isak explained that there would also be a desktop computer available; I imagine I will be using that.
What I did bring, though, and I am happy to have with me, are my slippers and jersey lounge pants (like pajama bottoms) – very comfy.
Once our meeting was over, our dinner pizza delivery arrived. After we ate, everyone pulled out their laptops, and nobody was successful in connecting to the Internet.
I was desperate to get on the Internet, as I told my boyfriend Nick that I would try to call when I arrived, so that he would know I was there and safe. Nothing worked. Though Isak had mentioned the desktop computer, it was not there. Earlier in the evening, when I noticed that A. T. had a cellular phone with him, I had asked him if he got an international calling plan for this trip. He had said yes, and added that he also got e-mail capabilities included with his plan. I prevailed upon him to let me use his phone so I could e-mail Nick.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Most people were able to sleep a lot on the plane; I usually don't do that well, though I did nod off for a while on the second flight. I had gone to bed last night just before 9:00 PM. When I awoke this morning at 4:00, I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't. Rather than fight it, I headed downstairs to scout out the coffee situation. I found that I was not the only one up: Sasho was there, working on his laptop in one of the lounges.
I made coffee and continued reading the book that I had brought with me – What is the What by Dave Eggers.
Breakfast is provided, but not very nutritious: corn flakes, packaged bread, and the centerpiece is an item called a rusk. It's an elongated brick-shaped cookie. Yes, it's tasty, but we are going to have to make an improvement over having candy for breakfast. We started making a shopping list. Subina asked if we could get “more nutritious snacks,” so that will be one item we will be looking for.
Little by little, everyone started to work their way into the kitchen. Most people had slept poorly, and for not very long. At a little before 7:00, Matt came into the kitchen with his ipod and speakers. First song up was the Beatles singing “Here Comes the Sun,” but the sun was still nowhere in sight.
We had an amazing day. First we walked over to the campus of the Leap School, where John had three minibuses for us; several of the Leap students came along with us. During our time together I asked John about the meaning of the school's name. Sometimes I see it written as LEAP, indicating an acronym, and sometimes Leap. He told me that the first school was named for the area where it was located: Langa. It was the Langa Educational Assistance Program. But now there are two schools in other locations, including the new one in Johannesburg. So the title for all of them is now Leap, which is metaphoric for the work that the teachers are doing with the students.
Our destination was Table Mountain, smack dab in the middle of Cape Town. We took a cable car to the top and had a look around at the majestic surroundings. I took photos, but with this poor Internet connection I have no idea if there will be the bandwidth to upload them anytime soon.
We are going to be getting a stipend for our stay here, but don't have any local currency yet. While we were waiting for our turn on the cable car to ascend the mountain, I went to a snack stand to see if they would accept credit cards for any purchase. They did, so I bought some peanuts and raisins. Before I went there, I had put on my sunglasses, noticed they were smudged, and cleaned them up. When I returned to the group with the snacks, I realized I didn't have my sunglasses any longer. I must have left them at the snack bar counter. But when I went there, they were not there, and the employees said they had not seen them.
So I am not here yet for a full twenty-four hours and I have already lost something. Just as well. Nick says I should get sunglasses that are “more stylish.” Seems like he is going to get his wish: Nicholas ex machina, exerting his influence from across the Atlantic.
I can see that I am going to have to re-acclimatize myself to being with a group and to being in Africa, with things moving slowly and not having personal control over events. The people themselves are funloving, high-spirited, and totally delightful, and I have no complaints there at all, but I am going to have to get used to eating when everyone else is and doing what the group does.
Though it was pleasantly warm (mid-seventies again) at the base of the mountain, it was cool and windy on top of it. One of our activities was to break into small groups, each of which had at least one Leap student, and introduce ourselves. Most of these students had never been on Table Mountain. They are allowed to be there, of course, but they do not see it as theirs, which is a direct result of the apartheid era. They sang beautifully on top of the mountain. One of the reasons for this, John explained, was as a means of claiming it as their own.
John is a wealth of information and fascinating to listen to. As far as I can see, he has devoted his life to these students, and he has been getting amazing results.
By the time we left Table Mountain it was after 3:30 and we had not had any lunch. Since none of us had any money, John and Amy were going to cover that. But the restaurant on top of Table Mountain was too expensive, so we headed to Camps Bay, a beautiful beach area that also has been not only exclusive, but exclusively white.
We had our food on the beach, and there were lots of ambulatory salesmen. Most of them had carved animals and the like for sale, some beads, and there was one guy with sunglasses. One pair looked nice, but it had PRADA on the side of it. Yuck. Never. That's all he had: knock-off sunglasses with Nike, Adidas, Chanel, and all that crap prominently on them. He said the price was 200 rand, and immediately came down to 100. I asked some of the kids what the price should be (after he left) and they said 39. I see I am going to have to do some sort of negotiating here. (Right now the exchange rate is about eight rand to the dollar.)
Amy and John opted for a supermarket rather than a restaurant so that we could get something to eat. I volunteered to help with the shopping. While we were in there, Amy agreed that we may as well buy ingredients for dinner, so that we could do all the shopping in one trip. On the spot, I offered to make a vat of soup for dinner. We had left the shopping list at the lodge, so will have to go shopping again, but at least we could get the necessary ingredients for the time being.
The supermarket had a bakery department that had some fabulous whole grain rolls, so we bought out the remaining eleven of them. It's good to know that there is a better choice of bread. It's certainly more expensive than the packaged bread option, but much more nutritious, so it is worth the price. Amy told me that last year all the Fellows pooled their stipends in order to pay for the food, so we will most likely be doing that, too.
Once back at the lodge, we launched into cutting up the veggies for the soup. I had lots of offers of help from other Fellows. My favorite sous chef wasn't there, but I made do with the ones we had, and everything was chopped up and cooking in no time. We had a soup with a tomato paste base, lots of veggies, lentils, and a separate serving of brown rice to accompany it. Subina had also helped with the shopping and we agreed that brown rice was the better choice.
We also realized that we had neglected to purchase any wine for dinner. Horrors! We learned that the area in which we are staying is a dry county, so we will have to make some sort of accommodation for getting wine. I am going to look into having it delivered to the lodge daily. With eighteen of us now, and more on the way for various lengths of time, I imagine we could easily go through a case of wine a day.
Everyone enjoyed the soup. As part of our meeting after dinner, we agreed it would be more expeditious to eat dinner together, especially since we are in a residential area and don't have much access to restaurants. Mike volunteered to cook tomorrow night.
The evening proved to be difficult again for Internet connections, as people kept on being kicked off. I am typing this at 3:30 AM on Thursday. Having awakened at 2:00, I came downstairs to use the computer, and I am doing this as a Word Document that I will paste into the blog page when I can get to it. At the moment, the Internet is functioning fairly well. I was able to get onto Facebook for the first time since I left home.
And the best part is that I was able to connect via gmail talk to Nick – our first communication since I have arrived in South Africa. Wonderful!
I intend to go back to sleep once this is finished, and see if I can improve upon the four hours of sleep I have gotten so far.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Our plan for the day was to go to the Leap School for the morning and then go downtown later to take care of getting money and arranging for our cell phones. As one might expect, that is what partially happened.
We did, indeed, go to the Leap School. Right now, school is not in session, yet there were lots of students there. As one of the administrators explained to us, the school is a safe and welcoming place for these kids; it provides something useful for them to do, even when school is not in session. As for the teachers, all of them were not there, but there were several in attendance.
The morning began with a welcome from the school officials, as well as a few words from Amy, the TWA Executive Director. The Leap School Choir sang and danced for us. This is always amazing, and we love it.
Everyone from Leap School insisted to the students that we not be called visitors or guests. They are welcoming us into their community, so we are to be referred to as such, and nothing else.
John Gilmour, the founding director of the school, spoke movingly to all. In speaking directly to the students, he stressed that they are part of the change that is happening in South Africa. As he spoke of change, he advised that it is always easy to see the changes that other people have to make, but not the ones that we have to make ourselves. “If I can change where I am, I can begin to change the world around me.”
John is the most amazing man – motivated and dedicated in a rare and wonderful way. He reminded his students that in South Africa 70% of all children drop out of school before they graduate from high school. In addition, Leap School is the only black school in Africa with an alumni association. They embrace their students tightly, and there were several LeapSA (Leap School Alumni) among us this morning.
The principal of the Leap 2 School stressed to us that the most important word in Teach With Africa is the word “With,” in that it indicates we are all working together.
The rest of the morning, and well into the afternoon, was filled with more singing and dancing by various ensembles of the students. At one point, all of us were invited to get into the act, as they passed out drums, and one of the students instructed us in keeping the beat. My hands felt sore after a very short amount of time. I don't know how drummers can do their job without hurting their hands.
We had a short session of students and TWA Fellows in small groups. John evidently enjoys this dynamic, as we had done something similar yesterday. Our assignment was to talk about three things: (1) something about ourselves that we don't want other people to know, (2) what we are feeling right now – very specifically feeling rather than thinking, and (3) something we are looking forward to during our two-month association.
When we are in small groups, one of John's directions to us is usually to talk about our feelings concerning whatever issue he wants us to speak about. He is very directed towards getting people to talk from their hearts rather than from their heads.
After our small group sessions, the students took us around the facility to show us classrooms, computer labs, and the grounds. It is absolutely one of the cleanest, most modern, and best equipped schools I have seen in Africa. As we walked around the building, we saw many posters, photos, and quotations on the walls. One that struck me was this African proverb: “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.”
We had lunch at the school. John stressed a few things about the lunch. First of all, the building is shared with another program that assists local children. This is fully consistent with the Leap School philosphy: “We share what we have.” Secondly, there is no canteen that is hired to make the food. It was prepared by the grandmother of one of the people who works in the accounting office.
After lunch, we rode to the township of Langa, which is the source for many of the students who attend Leap. On the way there, John pointed out to us the disparity of the areas nearby. We were on a wide divided highway. To our right was the white suburb of Pinelands, where we are staying. To the left was the black township of Langa. I was taken by the use of words: the suburb is white and the township is black. The words “suburb” and “township” are not interchangeable.
One of the kids in our van told us that when the Leap students who live in Langa see the Leap van, they run away from it because they are afraid that when John tracks them down, he is going to ask them to tell him about their feelings. We all got a chuckle out of that.
Within Langa, there are visible divisions in the way people live. The residents who have resided there for several generations live in homes that are located on paved roads and appear to be well-maintained. By contrast, newer arrivals live in peripheral areas comprised of shacks located on dirt roads and lanes. The government has added an innovation: along the main highway, there are new and attractive homes. This is called a “gateway” area, so-called because it can be seen when foreigners arrive at the “gateway” into Cape Town as they pass by from the airport. This is being prepared especially to show off to visitors who will be coming in 2010 for an international soccer tournament.
In the evening, Sara arrived. The driver who picked her up also brought a case of wine, so we were able to have our first wine since we arrived.
A few people from the group volunteered to make dinner for everyone. This time it was spaghetti, meatballs, and salad. After dinner, we had a group meeting, which was the most highly-charged emotional experience yet. We processed what we had seen during the day, and Joy skillfully facilitated everyone's participation in the group.
There was lots of crying, which was the result of our shared feelings of a wide range of emotions, much of which was conflicting: hope and hopelessness, joy and sorrow, inclusion and exclusion. It had all come at us at once. Mona expressed that it was remarkable to her that, a scant forty-eight hours after our arrival we were as comfortable as we were with each other, allowing us to exhibit such a high level of trust with each other and express these deeply-held feelings.
Our emotion came from two events during the day:
(1) the acceptance and welcome that came to us from the entire Leap School community.
(2) the situation in Langa, during which many of us felt as if we were tourist/gawkers who were there to exploit the residents. John had addressed this issue to those of us in his van earlier in the day. He explained that at least 90% of white South Africans would never even consider setting foot in a black township, and that the residents know that. Therefore, as soon as the community members see us, they know with a high degree of certainty that we are not members of the group of people who have historically repressed them. As a result, they hold no rancor against us. And, of course, once they hear our American accents, the are totally willing to embrace us as visitors.
Yes, we had experienced this dynamic already. But that didn't make it any easier for us to deal with.
I was one of those crying folks. Part of what I had to say was that I don't understand the worldwide adulation that so many people have for performers, athletes, and other celebrities who, in my opinion, are out there only for their own personal glory and offering no worthwhile contribution to the various challenges that large groups of humanity face: hunger, poverty, miserable opportunities for decent education, and the need for clean drinking water. Meanwhile, people like John Gilmour, founder of the Leap Schools and our chief guide here, has already shown himself – to me, anyway – as a hero who deserves the accolades – not to mention decent funding – of millions of people all over the world.
I see this as a sad inequity. After the experiences of the day, I just broke down and cried in frustration over all of it.
Friday, 3 July 2009
I finally had a breakthrough night for sleep. Though I did awake at 4:00 AM and was up for about thirty minutes, I got back to sleep and didn't wake again until 7:30, at which time it was just starting to get light. During my awake time, I tried to get onto the Internet and failed.
The Internet situation is intolerable and frustrating – not only for me but for many of the Fellows, some of whom are away from home for the first time and would be tremendously comforted if, at least, they could maintain contact with their loved ones.
We were out the door at 8:45 this morning, heading to the Leap School for our vans. As much as I enjoy listening to John speak about his slant on life here, I felt that I should sit in the other vehicle today, thus enabling somebody else to benefit from listening to him.
Our driver was Ashvaak, second generation South African Indian Muslim who has his own stories to tell, and I sat right behind him to find out as much as possible about his take on life in Cape Town. He was excellent in pointing out the neighborhoods where different ethnic and racial groups live, as well as giving a perspective about them.
I am much more rested today and feel like I am not walking around as in a fog.
This morning we spent in a wooded area where the Crysalis Academy is located. This area was deeded to the Academy as a site for outdoor education to be offered to young people at risk. Our focus today was in the program called Realistic, which is a twenty-one day program for young men who need to be rehabilitated into their communities after being in prison for various offenses, as well as for abusing a wide degree of substances such as drugs and alcohol.
The three-week camp experience is a small portion of their four-month program, after which they are helped in getting training and jobs.
We were once again warmly welcomed. We did some chanting together, some movement, and some talking in small groups.. Our assignment in the small group was to talk about why we were there. When it was my turn, I had to cop to the fact that I am something of a control freak when it comes to the way I use my time: I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Being in a group is sometimes difficult for me because I have to cede control to the group and practice the art of patience, which is not always easy.
After our time there, we went to the Fish Hoek Beach area for lunch – once again, it was from the supermarket, which I find to be a fine way to satisfy everyone's hunger on short order.
From there, we were shuttled to the Victoria & Albert Waterfront, which turns out to be a complex of shopping malls that are not unlike just about anywhere else in the USA. For that matter, there are lots of Australian stores there as well.
Though I was less than thrilled to be at a shopping mall, I have to admit that I was able to accomplish my short list of necessities that would help me feel more comfortable: get stamps for letters and postcards, get new sunglasses, get my TWA-issued cell phone operational with a new SIM card and some credit, and get myself on the Internet. (The shopping mall is where I am as I write at this moment.)
As for the sunglasses, Nick had a request: have somebody under the age of thirty go with me to pick them out. There were two or three of them – as well as a few older folks – with me when I got them. They gave me their stamp of approval. We'll see what Nick has to say, though.
Another thing: right now, I am apart from the group. We splintered off on our own. I want to stress that there is not anyone in particular I needed to get away from, but I was feeling stifled and infantilized by not being able to get around on my own.
A van will take some people back to the lodge at 6:30, but there will also be the option to return at 8:30. This second option is the one most of us will take, which will allow us to have our first restaurant meal together here.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
We began the day more quietly than the others since we have arrived. This time, we didn't have to be out of the lodge right away. Even though I am a morning person, I so much prefer to ease into the day than to rush into it.
I was able to venture out on my own for a bit this morning. Amy told me where a liquor store was located, and that it was within easy walking distance. I went over there to see about ordering some wine for the group. I assembled two cases, paid for it, and arranged to have it delivered to the lodge. The employee said it would be sent out within two hours. When I got back to the lodge, Marti, the resident manager, said she would be there to receive it.
It was good to have handled that one little bit of business.
We had something to eat before we left, and then Leon, a local guide, met us with three vans to take us into downtown Cape Town. Our first stop was the District Six Museum, which commemorates one of the atrocities of the apartheid era.
District Six was an integrated Cape Town neighborhood. It was the one area where people of different ethnic, racial, and religious groups coexisted. The apartheid policies of the government not only bulldozed all buildings except for the houses of worship, but they dispersed all the families.
When the families were broken up, it was the government - not the families themselves - that decided which group the people belonged to. The race distinctions were Europeans, natives (blacks), Asians (chiefly Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese), and coloured (mixed races).
In the cases of husbands and wives who were of different races, the government relocated these individuals to different places and then made the situation worse by demanding that they have the proper papers to travel from one area to another, which was something that people were not able to get.
This was yet another time when I was struck by the inhumanity of the treatment here. (At the same time, I recognize that this is not the only place where people have been inhumane to each other, but it is right now the focus of my attention.)
From the District Six Museum, Leon led us to Company's Garden, a beautiful park in the center of town. We had some refreshments there, and then went in our smaller groups to see some of the local sights.
Something different here compared to home is that shops start to close by early or mid Saturday afternoon, and then stay closed on Sunday. By the time we got to the Pan African Market, it was closed. But the Women's Market was open, so we had a chance to see some of the artifacts there.
We headed back to the lodge for a short break before going out to dinner. When we got there, I tracked down Marti to find out where the two cases of wine had been delivered. They had not arrived. By that time, it was after 5:00 PM, so the shop was closed, and it was going to remain closed on Sunday, so there was no way to find out what had happened.
It's bad enough that the Internet is unreliable. Not to have wine is making this intolerable. In a way, I am not surprised at the mishap of the delivery. It's not the first time in Africa that I have been assured that something was going to be done, and it was not.
We prepared to go out to dinner in an area known as Observatory. Before we left, Amy arranged for some taxis to pick us up at the lodge. She is using her cell phone from home, so asked if anyone had a local number so that the cab company could call back. I gave her my phone to use. (This seemingly insignificant bit of information will come into play later on.)
We scouted the restaurants on the street, and some of us, noticing that there was a Mexican restaurant, were ready to go there for dinner. We did check out some other ones, though. A group of six of us did end up at Pancho's, the Mexican place.
It turned into a late night for me. By the time we finished eating, it was well after 10:30, by which time I am usually in bed. Having been awake since 7:00, and then dealing with the noise in the restaurant, which was coming from the boisterous group next to our table, I couldn't even hear people who were speaking right next to me at my own table. I was ready to get outta there!
When the other five people in my group decided that they wanted to go out for another drink, I knew I could simply not last. I needed to be horizontal and in a quiet place. I took a taxi home by myself.
When I was preparing for bed and emptying my pockets, I realized that I did not have my phone. Oh - probably it was on the table next to where Amy had used it. I went downstairs to see if it was there, and it was not. I left a note for Amy on the door of her part of the lodge.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
I was up during the time that a small group was preparing to go to one of the township churches, but I was not going with them.
When I saw Amy, she told me she had received my note, but she had no idea where my phone was. We used another phone to call mine. The call went straight to voice mail.
As I write now, 10:44 AM, some people are at church, some are preparing to go hiking, and some are staying here. There is an option to get a taxi pick-up to join folks for a musical experience at 2:00 PM, and that is the one that I am taking, so that I have a few hours to relax and catch up with this blog and posting photos.
I spent an enjoyable morning in the lodge, uploading my photos and catching up with e-mail and blog. Wouter (pronounced “voter”) came by to do some tweaking to the wireless system, which has not been working well for us. By the time we left, he said that all was adjusted. In fact, it seemed to be working well while we were there.
I didn't even go outside until Ashvaak came to pick us up to go to one of the townships. When we arranged for this event, the story was that we were going to hear music. On the way there, Ashvaak explained that today was “comedy day” and that we would be treated to comedians from several different countries.
One of the TWA Fellows said, “Don't eat before we go. There is going to be food there.” I asked what kind of food it would be. He replied, “Barbequed meat.” I ate something before we left.
We picked up a few of the Leap students en route, and then appeared at a restaurant called Mzoli's Meat. The system is that you go into the shop, choose your meat, and then they grill it up and bring it out to your table.
The place was packed: lots of long tables under a canopy with three open sides, adjacent to the building. People were spilling out into the streets. It was a mob scene. Smoking (cigarettes) seemed to be a requirement for attendance. There was no music being played by the restaurant, but that surfeit was made up by the blasting of car radios crowded outside. Every third car had its own beat – somebody called it “house music” and described it as being more of a beat than music itself – and, you may not believe this, but no two cars were playing the same music. The result was the very definition of cacaphony.
We had reserved a table, which was waiting for us when we arrived. The problem was that there were no chairs around the table. Note to self: next time, be more specific about your needs.
We finally had some chairs brought over to our table, but there were more people than chairs. For two hours, mostly what we did was sit around the table or walk nearby in small groups. The restaurant didn't serve alcohol, but several houses nearby were filling that gap by selling it from their front doors.
When the meat came, there was a huge bowl of it, accompanied by one small plate of salad and one plate of a grain that had been soaked in water, boiled, and looked like mashed potatoes. That one small plate of salad got passed around; by the time it got to me, it was empty. All the omnivores had polished off what was essentially the only food I would be able to eat.
The same thing happened the other night: the small percentage of vegetarian pizzas was finished long before the meat-laden ones. I have seen the same dynamic take place in Chinese restaurants, where a few veggie dishes are ordered among the meat ones and are systematically polished off first.
The comedic entertainment never materialized during the time we were there. Ashvaak picked us up about a half-hour after the arranged time, and then took us back to the lodge.
Once back at the lodge, the hiking group and those who had stayed behind were there, with everyone on her or his laptop. E-mail was slow to load and Skype was impossible to use.
I'm feeling a lot of frustration in not being able to speak to Nick even once since I have arrived here. The time difference of six hours from here to the East Coast makes it such that the early afternoon is the beginning of the time that I can reach him. We have always been out during that time, and during the coming weeks we will be working at Leap, so that time is out. Then, when we are available for free time, everyone is here and wanting to use the Internet at the same time.
Many are frustrated by this.
We had a meeting and talked about this, among other issues. Jen is preparing a sign-up list for us, so that we can be sure that only one person is on Skype at a time. As Mike explained it, Skype sucks up lots of power and bandwidth, so we have to be prudent with the way we use it.
Since our location is isolated, there is no other option available, such as a neighborhood cyber cafe.
Monday, 6 July 2009
The big agenda item for the day was welcoming the students from Leap 3 to Cape Town. There are two Leap Schools in Cape Town (Leap 1 and Leap 2, oddly enough), with the third and newest one in Johannesburg. Sixty of the Joburg students and their teachers took the eighteen-hour bus ride to come for a vist. It was the first time that all of these students were together as one Leap School student body.
Though they were supposed to arrive by 8:30 AM, we got word when we arrived that there had been an accident on the highway (not involving their bus) and that all traffic had been stopped for an undetermined length of time.
With the group arrival delayed, we had an opportunity to meet with John Gilmour. One of the topics of conversation in the morning was the differences among three styles of leadership that South Africa is facing right now. These have been labeled as walk apart, walk behind, and walk together.
In the walk apart model, the state is corrupt and ineffective. The citizenry distrusts the leadership and looks out for protecting their own interests. It's the most commonly used dynamic in Africa.
In the walk behind model, the state directs the citizens and the people become dependent and compliant. The main flaw in this system is that the people see the government as the sole responsible entity, thus giving up their own power to it.
The walk together scenario is the one that, not surprisingly, John supports, not only for the country as a whole, but for Leap School as well. In this relationship, the state and the people collaborate. This is what John looks for in his students as well as the staff. All the while, he recognizes that this is a difficult road to take, in that it requires a significant amount of talking among the various interest groups involved.
Our meeting adjourned when we got word that the bus from Joburg was approaching. The students had a joyous meeting, as did the teachers. Once again, we were able to enjoy the most amazing choral sounds, dancing, and drumming. Tuksie, the principal of Leap 1 introduced the program. From there on, it was entirely student-led. After the performances, one of the students opened a sharing session during which anyone who wanted to speak could come in front of the crowd to express her/himself. There were many expressions of welcome from the Cape Town residents, as well as those of gratitude from the Joburg students.
John didn't speak until the end. After we had lunch, we reconvened so that we could take care of some more logistics. John pointed out to us, in explaining his approach toward leadership, that he would have preferred the assembly we saw to have been a “tidy forty minutes” instead of the seventy-five minutes that it took. At the same time, he recognized and pointed out to us that the entire program had significantly more value to the students because they had planned and executed it themselves, with no adult intervention. John really does walk his talk, and he also acknowledges that it is not the easiest way to operate.
Following that meeting, we TWA Fellows were able to get together to plan our teaching sessions for the coming week. I have a two-hour session that will take place on Saturday morning. I headed directly to the computer lab to see about printing out the papers that I needed to use for planning this lesson with Annie and Sara.
Internet access in the lab was a little slow, but it worked, for which I was grateful. The printer needed some adjustments, too, but I was able to accomplish the task at hand.
On the way back to the lodge, I stopped at the shopping mall to see about getting a replacement cell phone. Though I got to the store at 5:05 PM, it was already closed for the day!
On the brighter side, I saw that the wine had been delivered to the kitchen of the lodge, so that was very good news indeed. People seemed happy to be able to have some wine with and after dinner.
The Internet was working during the evening, and I was able to have a Gmail chat with Nick, which was not only nice in an of itself, but grounding for me.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
When I arrived downstairs shortly after 6:00 AM, there were a few other Fellows milling about, drinking and making coffee. It's like living in a group home here. We are still getting used to each other, after having completed our first week. Sometimes, people do some individual cooking, but it is mostly done in large servings. For example, when I took out a frying pan and some eggs to prepare for breakfast, somebody standing there asked, “Can I get in on those?” and immediately after that, another person in the kitchen wanted some, too. Before I knew it we were cooking for three.
Once again, the Internet is not working this morning. Mike, quite the computer expert, could make a minimal diagnosis, but did not have the means to repair it.
We had to be at the school by 8:30 for a rigorous day of sightseeing. Because most of the students and teachers from Joburg had never been to Cape Town, this was the opportunity to be sure that they were able to experience two of the local wonders: Robben Island and Lion's Head Mountain.
We rode around in two buses: the one that came from Joburg and a local one. We made our way back to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront (locally referred to simply as “the Waterfront”) so that we could embark upon our boat to Robben Island, location of the jail where Nelson Mandela spent many of his twenty-seven years as a political prisoner who worked tiredlessly in the struggle against apartheid and unjust treatment on the part of the South African government.
Upon our arrival at the dock at 9:50, we learned that the next departure was going to be at 11:00. With plenty of time on our hands, I approached Amy and asked if it would be all right for me to go to the shopping mall near by so that I could take care of my cell phone business, which would involve purchasing a new phone as well as well as arranging for the phone number and available credit to be transferred over to the new one.
Amy said that that was fine, and I was off and running.
Because cell phone theft and loss is such a problem here, there are two things that the owner has to do when asking Vodacom to transfer this information: (1) show the original documentation in the form of the card that came with the original SIM card (which has the SIM card number, phone number, and several other bits of information that only the owner would have) and (2) tell Vodacom five phone numbers dialed during the previous three months.
The first of these was easy to accomplish, as I had the card in my wallet. As for the second, I explained to the representative that I had had the phone for less than a day and had made only two phone calls on it. “I'm sorry, sir, but we must have five,” she explained politely.
The store made a copy of my passport identification and the original card of information to fax to Vodacom's central office, and that is supposed to prove who I am and help speed up the authentification process.
I made it back to the ferry dock in plenty of time to board for the trip to Robben Island. More local students than anticipated had turned up to join us, which meant that there were not enough tickets to go around.
Our guide explained that “robben” is Dutch for “seal” and that there is evidence that Vasco da Gama and his crew were there as early as 1498. The island is much larger than I thought it would be and has many buildings spread out over its flat terrain.
Everyone walked the short distance from the pier and boarded buses so that we could be taken around the island. Our tour guide was excellent in her explanations of various buildings that we saw, such as the Anglican church, monument built to honor the cheikh who brought Islam to South Africa, the school for children of the prison guards, post office, and the like.
I sometimes get a little confused with the local accent. As in many places, the combination of the local vocabulary and the accent conspire to make certain statements unintelligible. For example, our guide referred several times to what sounded like “the waters of the island.” I finally came to understand that she was not talking about the waters that surrounded the island but the “warders” - the prison guards – who worked there.
We were finally allowed to get off the bus so that we could be shown around one of the jail buildings. At that point, our guide was one of the men who had spent ten years on the island as a political prisoner. We saw the main jail building, which included Nelson Mandela's cell. It was the only cell that was furnished, in that it had a bedroll and a few items in it.
The buildings have obviously been painted and restored in order to be presentable and appealing to tourists. I doubt very much that they looked this fresh and clean when the Island was in full operation for its intended purpose.
We caught the 2:00 ferry to return to the mainland. We were already behind schedule, as Jamiel, the organizer of the day, had indicated a 9:30 departure to Robben Island and a 1:00 return. The original plan was to have a bag lunch at the buses and then go to Lion Head's Mountain to begin our ascent at 2:00. Then we were to leave Lion's Head at 4:00 to return to Leap School and the townships so that the students (called “learners” here) could go home.
Upon distributing the lunches, two little bits of information came to light: (1) food for vegetarians was an afterthought; while everyone else got a sandwich and a more or less complete meal, we got to rummage through a box that included a few bananas, apples, and a plastin bin of cookies. (2) There was not enough food for everyone. School is not officially in session, so it was not easy to know how many of the local students would be joining us. Jamiel had underestimated.
Amy, the TWA Executive Director, and our leader for these nine days (until she goes home tomorrow), once again jumped in to save the day. That seems to be her specialty, and she is certainly good at not only knowing how to solve problems, but then coming up with an on-the-spot solution.
Amy and a few others headed into the mall to buy food for the ten or so people who had not had any. The buses left for Lion's Head while Jamiel stayed behind so that he could transport the shoppers to meet the buses from the point where we were going to make the ascent.
This strategy worked out just fine, in that they managed to arrive at the buses' parking place when we were descending from them!
John Gilmour and his family were waiting for us. By the time we started to climb the mountain, it was closing in on 4:00. I asked John how long it would take to make the climb. He said it would be an hour and forty-five minutes up, and then forty-five minutes down, at best.
In doing the calculation in my head, I then replied that it would probably be dark when we got back. John, correcting my “probably,” said, “It will be dark.”
Armed with this knowledge, I thought that I had better run back to the bus to get my sweatshirt, jacket, scarf, gloves, and hat, since it would be getting quite cold.
The group, being mostly young people, led a vigorous pace up the mountain. I was finding that I could do the climb, even with the steepness of the trail, but the pace was too fast for me. After about half an hour, the flat path was replaced by stops that had been cut into the trail, and on which all the treads were quite rocky. In projecting ahead to a descent in the dark, with no lighting to show our way, I saw that it would be very easy for me to lose my footing on the way down, and then trip on the rocky path.
It was then that I decided that I would not try to make it all the way to the top. I dawdled for a while to take in the beauty of the view overlooking the Indian Ocean. When I passed Dom on his way up, he told me that Jen and Mona had found a bench and were down there with one of the students who had been having trouble breathing because she has asthma.
Jen, Mona, and I waited around and in the bus until everyone started to return from the top of the mountain. The first ones arrived at 5:45 and they continued to come down until after 7:00. We left at 7:15, a full three hours after the scheduled departure.
I fully recognize that we have to be flexible with our schedule. At the same time, when a timeframe is announced, people make plans accordingly. For example, our bus driver, Dicky, has a daughter who was going to Rome for work the next day. His family had planned a farewell dinner for her, and he was several hours late to attend this.
Why even go through the pretense of writing a schedule if you are not going to adhere to it? But this is Africa. I have heard it said that Africa teaches patience. My admittedly harsher version of that is this: Africa beats patience into you!
We got home to find that the Internet was working once again. After an hour or so, however, it was gone. It's as if there is an allotment of hours, minutes, or bandwith, and once that is reached, the whole system is used up for the time being.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
We didn't have to be at the school today until 10:30, which was a blessing. I slept nine hours last night!
First thing in the morning, I tried to see if my cell phone situation had been sorted out. I thought I had jumped through all the hoops, but unfortunately found out that I had not. I told the customer service representative that the Vodacom store had faxed the necessary form to their company yesterday. In response, the rep told me that he needed to know the fax number from which the fax had originated. They never told me that I would need that information; otherwise I would have captured it at the store.
I told him I did not know that number. He then went on to tell me that he wanted to explain to me why he needed that number. I told him he could tell me why he needed that number, but that wasn't going to help me to get it. He then went on to tell me anyway, just so that I could explain to him that I still didn't have it.
In the end, it didn't matter whether I had that fax number or not because he then threw in two new requirements for setting this straight: (1) a copy of a police report on which I had listed the phone lost or stolen and (2) a fax from a Vodacom office of the new documentation of my new SIM card.
Now I am back to square one, essentially, in that I have these two tasks to accomplish, but am working all day, or am with the group, and there is no time during business hours when I can do this.
Upon our arrival at the school there was nothing to do. We waited around a while and then Joy, our leader, told us that we could go to the computer room to check our e-mail.
I no sooner got online and was reading an e-mail from Nick that Subina come into the lab to tell me that we were going to meet. I had to get off the computer and go downstairs.
Our destination was Kolkfontein, which is one of the communities in which several of the Leap Students live. Joyce, an extremely active resident of Kolkfontein, has founded a sewing cooperative, a cinder block-building initiative, a soup kitchen, and an elementary school for the community.
The sewing cooperative is willing to work with projects that could help the local economy. Having known this in advance before I even came to South Africa, I brought a few sample items with me – wine bags and an apron – as well as some personal sewing that I needed to be done. After she gave the group an explanation of the program, Johanna, the woman in charge of the cooperative, took them and started the production going. They are working on a big project right now, but will have some samples for me in about two weeks.
I asked Johanna what the women typically earn in a day. She said she tries to be sure that they get R100 (about $12.50) for a day's work. This little bit of information will be helpful in figuring out what to pay them for the work that they do for us.
On the way back to Leap School from Kolkfontain, we stopped at Pick 'n Pay, a local large supermarket chain. We were able to pick up something to eat for lunch, as well as staples for the next few days. It is easy to drop $200 at a time for this group of twenty people.
We arrived at Leap School just in time for the beginning of the program for which the students of Leap 1, 2, and 3 have been rehearsing during the last few days. There was dancing, poetry readings, and choral singing in all possible combinations, including girls only, boys only, mixed chorus, and the LEAPSA (alumni) students. The program went on for more than two hours! It's hard to get these kids to stop once they have started performing.
I find the choral singing to be most extraordinary, what with the blending of voices and the multi-part harmonies going on. Frequently the choirs incorporate simple movement with the singing, which makes for visual enjoyment. Since the LEAPSA Choir is comprised of two dozen or so people who are a few years older than the current high school students, their blend of sound is more robust and mature, which was quite noticeable to me once I heard them sing.
The final song, in which the entire congregation partook, was the Leap School song. I have never heard a group of high school students sing their alma mater with this kind of fervor, reverence, and joy. It is clear to me that these young people are singularly aware of the transformation that their Leap School experience has had in their lives, and they are grateful for it.
After the assembly program, the teachers had LEAPSA students had a reception in one of the classrooms, while the high school students were in the larger area. While we were in there, I saw a few white faces I had not previously seen. They turned out to be some British people who are currently working in Cape Town for a short time, who were on Lion's Head Mountain the previous day and whom John had invited to attend the proceedings of the day.
That's John: always including people and networking for the good of all.
Meanwhile, back at the lodge, when we unpacked the groceries we realized that there was a bag missing. Gone were the ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies as well as the soy milk.
We had dinner, got online (for the short amount of time that it lasted), and drank wine. The two cases of wine that were delivered on Monday are now consumed. People laughed when I said I thought we could use a case a day, but it has turned out to be that, which is not so much of a surprise, since there are about twenty of us.
Our evening meeting concluded with a good-bye presentation from the group to Amy, who returns to San Francisco tomorrow. We all participated in the creation and signing of a large paper that included an oath from us to Amy as to what we promised to do in her absence, such as never crossing the street alone and being sure to do things safely. It was both humorous and heartfelt, showing our deep appreciation for her inspiring leadership, not only of our time together, but all the care that she has put into the Teach With Africa program for the months and weeks leading up to our departure.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
I was up shortly after 6:00 AM, had coffee and breakfast, and then headed out of the lodge by 8:00 so that I could deal with getting the necessary police report for my lost or stolen cell phone, ordering more wine, and arranging to have the necessary documents faxed to Vodacom, my phone provider.
All went extremely smoothly:
The procedure for getting police report was quick and easy. The liquor store was open earlier than the posted hours. Furthermore, the manager was there this time and he waived the delivery charge for our order, which constituted forty bottles that are supposed to last us through the weekend.
At Leap School, the LEAPSA students presented a class about their culture, which was enlightening for all of us, and quite interactive, in that we were able to ask lots of questions, many of which centered about marriages and family relationships.
This was especially good for me to see, since I will be teaching a class about American/Western culture on Saturday morning.
In the afternoon, I went to a session about choral singing, which we did in Xhosa. The lesson was instructive in many ways. First of all, when the LEAPSAs gave us instructions about the lyrics we were supposed to sing, they never wrote them down. All of us Americans wanted to see the words written. I asked to find out if this is ever done, and they told us that they are always told to the choir, never written.
The people teaching us used the terminology associated with Western choral musical parts: soprano, alto, tenor, bass. We had an enjoyable time learning the Xhosa words and then singing the words.
In the evening at the lodge, Karly, Matt, and Beth led the kitchen crew in preparing a Mexican meal for us, which was fabulous.
Friday, 10 July 2009
The morning session for LEAPSA students was planned to help them with study skills. Joy and Jenn did an admirable job getting their points across, with great notes on the board and clear directions.
Three was a yoga session after that, run by Emily, but I skipped out on that in favor of checking in on Vodacom to see why my credit and phone number have not yet rolled onto the new SIM card.
To date, I have done everything they asked me to do, and after each step being the last thing that needed to be done, I was to wait twenty-four hours for the information – both the old phone number and the R270 (about $35) to transfer onto the new card.
Now that all has been done, there is, of course, a new step that nobody ever told me about before. Can you believe it? It turns out that because the new replacement SIM card has been activated, it is not an acceptable one to use for the SIM card swap. This meant I had to purchase yet another card, my third one, and go through some more paperwork.
The Vodacom shop at the center near the lodge is closed on Saturday, so I had to do this today and, in so doing, missed the afternoon classes. When I got to the shop, I found out that they do not sell SIM cards. The nearest other shop is in another (larger) center, the Howard Centre, nearby. So I took a walk over there, where I bought the card, filled out yet another two forms, and was told not to put the card into the phone until tomorrow. Then it should all work. Inshallah!
By the time all of this was taken care of it was 4:00 PM. Meanwhile, back at the school, everyone would be starting the communal effort to prepare dinner. One of the other Fellows had just come back to the lodge because she was not feeling well. She was going to have something to eat and then go to bed.
The temptation not to go back to the school and to stay at the quiet lodge by myself was simply too great to pass up. Since I didn't have any credit on my phone to make the call, I went to the lodge office and asked to use their phone so I could call Joy and let her know that I would stay at the lodge for dinner, thus not joining the group.
I did feel a bit sheepish about doing so because the main meal that they were preparing was a type of local soup that contained meat, and I had asked the LEAPSA student in charge if she could help to cook a version of it that had no meat; she had said yes. It wouldn't go to waste, though, as there are a few other people who observe some version of vegetarianism, so they would eat it.
During our orientation session with Teach With Africa, we talked about concerns that we anticipated having here. One that I brought up – and which several other Fellows echoed – was having a shortage of privacy and alone time. It's a delicate balance that I am working on, in that I fully recognize the need to be a functioning member of the group, yet I can't be one if I don't have the energy and strength that, for me, comes from being by myself for a while.
I did, indeed, need that energy and strenth for the following morning, as I was going to be teaching a class with one of the other Fellows. Our frenetic schedule had conspired in such a way as to come in the way of our joint preparation for the class. On more than one occasion we talked about meeting in order to prepare the class, but we had never had more than just a few moments to exchange ideas with each other. Early on in the week, I had made sure to have enough time at the computer so I could print out the information that I needed for the class, so that was ready. But the planning session was still something we had not taken care of.
I have heard one of the differences between an introvert and an extrovert explained as this: an introvert is energized by being by himself and an extrovert is energized by being with other people. Using this definition, I am most assuredly an introvert. Many people are surprised to hear me say this. Anything about me that looks otherwise is because of the many years of practice that I have had, both in the classroom and in my personal life, to force myself to be more fully functioning with others.
In any event, I did enjoy my peaceful evening at home, which afforded me enough time to go over our material and plan the framework of the class we would teach tomorrow. I was awake when everyone came back to the lodge, which was after 10:00 PM. I touched base with Sara, my co-teacher for the class; I told her that I had pretty much put everything together for the class, but that it would be a good idea to go over it the following morning. We agreed to get together at 8:00 to look at what I had done so that we would both be familiar with the material.
I went to bed feeling more relaxed about the situation and knowing that I would be prepared both personally and professionally for the next day.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Sara, Joy, and I got to the school on the early side to prepare for our classes. Joy was going to teach the second of two classes in study skills, whereas Sara and I were going to teach a session titled Introduction to American Culture and Values.
The class was originally scheduled for 9:00, but because of the lateness of Friday evening, it had been moved to 10:00. At 10:15, though, with only two or three LEAPSAs on hand, we had to face the reality that there may not be enough of a group onhand to spread out over two separate sessions.
People started to dribble in. As I waited, I tried to use my phone and saw that it did not accept the new SIM card. I made my way to the reception desk and had one of the kids help me to call the store where I had purchased it the day before. The employee was very helpful and told me that she would investigate the situation, but that she saw on her computer that there was no problem with my number, despite the fact that my phone screen was showing that the card was not valid.
Eventually, Joy decided to postpone her session to another time. By the time a critical mass of students had arrived, it was 11:00 AM, so that is when we got started.
(Note: this blog is serving not only as my personal diary that I am sharing with family and friends, but also as the work report that our Teach With Africa administrators need to read so that they can be fully updated on how our progress here. For that reason, I am going to go into as great detail as possible in explaining this session so that the folks at home can know how it went.)
My co-teacher was Sara, who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin during the same time that I was serving in Mauritania. We had two objectives in this Introduction to American Values and Culture:
1. To begin a discussion about American values, with the understanding that the USA is a large country that has a diversity of class, economic status, race, geography, religion, ethnicities, education level, and sexual orientation.
2. To use talking points as a means of discussion between South Africans and Americans, thus enhancing mutual understanding and respect.
I additionally laid some groundwork by explaining that we wanted to steer our observations of each other along the lines of differences that we saw, and not being judgmental about them. For example, not these difference between these two observations on the part of an American: (1) In England they drive on the wrong side of the road. (2) In England they drive on the opposite side of the road.
Sara and I wanted the session to be as informal and organic as possible. We began by involving the students in asking them what impressions they had about Americans, based on their viewing of American television, movies, and any in-person experiences that they had already had. We wanted them to focus on what questions they had about American values, especially in ways that they differed from their own.
We wrote their responses and questions on the board. (I am working here from photos that I took of the contents of the board at the end of the session, so this is an accurate account of what was there. I am also adding some explanations to some points, in parentheses after them, to explain a little of what was said when it was added to the board.)
01. American students are very casual and concerned with being “cool.”
02. Prostitution as a career (One of the students had seen an American talk show on which a father-and-daughter couple had appeared. The daughter was a prostitute and the father helped her with her makeup and clothing choices. The student wanted to know if this sort of parental support for prostitution was a widespread sentiment.)
03. Busy city life
04. Lack of spanking of children by parents, and the meaning of “Go to your room.”
05. Swearing
06. Law suits and television judge shows – Judge Judy, and everyone is suing everyone.
07. How does the transportation work?
08. HIV/AIDS in the US
09. Geneology, “roots” and its importance to Americans
10. Sports
11. Drag queens
12. The American Dream – what is that?
13. Greetings – greeting style is different than here – some Americans here give a “fake smile”
14. Glamor
15. Do we have vigilante justice?
16. Do we have segregated neighborhoods in the USA like they have in South Africa?
17. American arrogance
18. Interracial dating
19. Is everyone comfortable with Obama as president of the USA?
20. The process of becoming a citizen
The above could be the basis for entire lecture series or course, let alone a solitary two-hour session. With ten TWA Fellows onhand, many of us spoke our minds concerning individual points on the list. We emphasized that there was not always a single answer that spoke for all Americans and that, as we had stated in the first objective for the class, that there was a huge diversity that was based on many factors.
That being said, here were some of the main discussions that we had:
The differences among city, suburban, and rural life: cities have a great diversity of races and social classes. People in cities are much more accustomed to dealing with a variety of people, whereas those in smaller towns may have more provincial views. The students understand this because they find the same dynamic at work here in South Africa.
Cost of living in the USA: It is significantly higher than here. When we explained the income that we thought was considered to be poverty level (those Fellows present reckoned it was something like $14,000) and did the conversion to South African rand, the South African students considered that sum to be a lot of money and they couldn't understand how we could think it was poverty. We went on to relate this to the variations that existed across the USA, and to explain how some areas were more expensive than others.
Gentrification: how neighborhoods in cities have changed and how these changes have forced up the cost of living.
HIV/AIDS: The students explained that many of their peers were having what we would consider to be unprotected sex, even though they knew the dangers. Many of the Fellows chimed in that their peers were not using condoms.
Race issues: This was a significant area of discussion, as people from both countries discussed their experiences with interracial dating and the use of racial slurs. Our discussion of the Obama presidency included the apparent shift from some long-held race views in the USA, chiefly the understanding that African Americans, with about twelve percent of the US population, could not have been the only group in the USA to vote in Obama as president.
The American Dream: We varied our take on this, as can be expected, but emphasized the idea of mobility in American society, and how people can move in many ways, including geography, class, and education. We linked this in some ways to the discussion of race issues, and specifically Obama. It was easy to see that the perspective about this varied among our Fellows, especially considering that we have two African Americans among us, one of whom is 61 years old and the other of whom is 25.
Overall, we found the students to be not only curious but straightforward in expresing their points of view and most eager to engage in discussion with us. Of the eighteen LEAPSAs present, fifteen handed in evaluation forms. On the scale of 1 to 10, in response to the the question of “how useful/interesting did you find the material?” three of the students gave us a 7, one gave us an 8, eight gave us a 9, and three gave us a 10, for an average grade of 8.73. Of course every teacher would like to see the average to be higher than a 9, but I felt satisfied that we had accomplished our goals for the session.
Concurrent to the class, some of the Fellows were working in the Leap School kitchen to prepare lunch. We had decided on a meal that would include both American and South African dishes. The local dish was beans and samp; I never fully got what samp is, but it seems to be some sort of grain. The American contributions were macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and green salad.
On my way to the class, I tried my phone again. I called the necessary number to find out what my balance was. Up until this time, there was always the message that there was zero. Now, for the first time, I got the message that I had R270.69. The SIM swap was finally complete! I had a phone with credit!
Before we ate, though, we took time for our celebration that concluded this part of our work together. Yesterday we had taken classes on various performing arts. Today, all the groups that had practiced these yesterday had an opportunity to perform for each other, LEAPSAs and TWAs combined and working together in every group.
We had two separate choral groups, gumboot dancing, drumming, and another kind of dancing. There was joyous appreciation all around, both on the part of the TWA Fellows who had worked so hard to learn local styles of performing, and among the LEAPSAs who appreciated our joining them in celebrating these aspects of their culture.
When we ate after the performances, I was curious about the samp and beans, but it was prepared with a meat bullion, so I passed on it. There was an abundance of other food. From the looks of it, everyone had plenty to eat.
By the time we were ready to leave the Leap School it was around 4:00. We contacted Ashfaak, whom I have mentioned previously, and arranged for transportation for the remainder of the day. Some of us went back to the lodge and another group wanted to do some shopping. Ultimately, all but one of us was going to meet for dinner on Long Street, which is located in downtown Cape Town and has a lot of restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.
For those of us who wanted to do a little shopping, Ashfaak took us not just to a mall, but to the largest shopping all in Africa: Canal Walk in Century City. With more than four hundred shops and restaurants, Canal Walk has something for everyone.
In its appearance, it is very much like any American shopping mall that you may have seen. There are a few stores than an American may recognize, such as Aldo shoes and Toys R Us. There are also plenty of Australian chains and many that I was seeing for the first time here, so I am guessing that they are local.
The scene at the mall was fascinating to observe. Many of the stores provide shopping carts (called “trolleys” here), which the shoppers are free to roll around throughout either of the mall's two stories (I noted that there is are poles at the entry point of the escalators, which prevent people from trying to get them from floor to floor by that method.)
Judging by the headscarves on many of the women, there is a visible and sizeable Muslim population here. Most of the restaurants, both inside of and outside of the food court, had a similar appearance to those with which I was already familiar. Smoking is not allowed at any of the tables that are out in the open. However, many of the restaurants had separate smoking sections that are completely sealed off from the general air circulation of the mall, which seemed to be a good way to let smokers have their own space and not inflict the rest of us with the secondhand smoke.
My mission was to find SpecSavers, an optician where I had been told I could find the most reasonable prices for reading glasses, of which I wanted to buy a spare pair. I did find them and placed an order for a pair that turned out to be $100 cheaper than they would be at home.
I also found a place to send some e-mail, which is still an issue at the lodge. It was expensive, at R24 for half an hour (about $3), but I was happy to get the job done, and especially to get some e-mails from Nick. One of his e-mails had been sent recently, so I took a chance that he was still online and told him it was a good time to call me. It wasn't too long before my phone rang.
Even though I have Nick's number in my phone contact directory, this overseas call was showing up simply as “Call.” It could only be Nick. I answered and heard nothing. Perhaps my being in this shopping mall was making reception difficult. The phone kept on ringing, until I finally stepped outside the mall. I sent him a text that I was outside and there may be better reception, but I didn't get a return call.
Ashfaak transported the group at the lodge to Long Street and they found a restaurant. Then he collected us at the appointed place and time so that he could take us down there. Joy called to tell me where they were, and that is where Ashfaak took us. We had a delicious Indian meal at Maharajah.
After dinner, most of the folks wanted to go out to the local nightclubs, so Ashfaak drove home the four of us who wanted to return to the lodge.
I got into bed a little after midnight, which is late for me. I thought I'd see if I could reach Nick, as it was only 6:15 PM his time. I got him, and he called me back on his Skype. We haven't been successful in making good phone contact from other places, but the reception seems to work out all right here at the lodge, so we are going to have to continue phone calls to this location.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
It is raining today. Up until now, we have had an occasional sprinkle, but this is the first really bad weather we have had since our arrival.
My plan was to stay around the house as much as possible for the day, but I did volunteer to walk to the Pick 'n Pay at Howard Centre to help out with the shopping. I was one of the group of five who headed over there to do the task.
We filled two large shopping carts with our purchases: that's a lot of food, considering that there are twenty of us. We'll be lucky if this supply lasts two to three days.
The original plan was to walk home with the groceries, but we could see that that would be too much for us. One of the group found out that there are some men at the center whose job it is to accompany people home with their grocery carts and then take the cart back to the store, so we took advantage of that service.
I was writing on the computer, using the word processing function, when somebody came in and asked, "Is it true the Internet is working?" I checked, and it was! That was a pleasant surprise.
A group of my TWA colleagues just came in here to play cards. One of them was humming and whistling a Christmas song, which I was hoping would end soon. But then somebody with a computer that has lots of music on it picked up on that and now they are in full Christmas music swing, so I have to finish this up and get out of the room before I lose my mind.
Monday, 13 July 2009
Something I have not written about yet are the names of some of the people we have been meeting. There is a range of names, as some are complicated to remember and some are familiar. A few of them, here for your reading enjoyment, are:
Mhleli, Zolile, Mokelo, Siyasonga, Lwandolwethu, Vuyelwa, Mziyande, Nyameka (nicknamed Meka), Lindile, Likone, Ngwe, Zintle, Odwa, Mathabo, Mihlali, Nomava (nicknamed Vhava), Zandile, Todii, Akhona, and Lukholo (“Call me Steve”).
Interspersed with these most unusual names that are hard to remember are some that are much more familiar: Patricia, Paul, Lydia, Tania, James, Valentine, and Precious are a few of the people I have met.
When I wrote about the visit to Robben Island, I mentioned how I had confused the pronunciation of “warders” (the prison guards) with the word “waters,” because that is what it sounded like to me.
There are lots of other confusing pronunciations. I have made note of a few of them.
The other day, when I was at the Leap School, I went to the cafeteria to see if there was any food for sale. An employee there said that they had what sounded like a “baygah.” The only word I could think of was “bagel.” It was unbelieveable to me that they would have a bagel here. I asked if I could see it. When the server brought me what she was talking about, I could see that it was a hamburger, which helped me to realize that the word she was saying was “burger,” not “bagel.”
One of the students who spoke to us used a word that sounded like “wekfist,” which rhymed with “breakfast.” I was puzzled for a while, and then finally came to the conclusion that he was saying “work fast.”
The owner of the Beulah Lodge, where we are living, referred to one of the managers as “Marti.” I can add that I am not the only one who interpreted her name as such. When I asked her to spell her name for me, I was surprised by what she told me, as she spelled it M – a – r – i – e. Oh, it's “Marie,” not “Marti.”
The misunderstanding comes with the different pronunciations of the “r” sound. We say it with our upper teeth resting on the inside of the lower lip. Most people here say it with the tongue resting behind the upper teeth, which gives it a sound closer to a "d" than an "r" for Americans.
Marie has a dog whose name sounds like “Der-RENZ” when she says it. I asked her to spell that for me, and she said, “T – e – r – r – e – n – c – e.” The pronunciation of the "t" is a lot closer to our "d."
What I am dealing with are two issues: different pronunciations of words as well as emphasis on different syllables.
*****
Today was a transitional day in many ways. About half of the TWA Fellows were scheduled to go to camp for the grade twelve students of the Leap School.
The school year here is the same as the calendar year. Right now is the winter vacation, which takes place in the middle of the school year. This is the last week of vacation, and all the grade twelve students have their camp experience before school resumes next week.
The students and seven of us TWA Fellows boarded a sixty-five-seat bus at the school for the one- hour ride to the site that contains four camps located on land that was donated by a prominent local member of the Rotary Club. (Note that another group of TWA Fellows is coming to the camp later in the week.)
I got lucky with my accommodation, in that I was in a double room with Bonisile, who is a Leap School teacher in charge of the camp program this week. The other TWA Fellows are in a larger dorm room with bunk beds. They are the only ones in that room, and then there are two other rooms with all the (male) students on our side of the building.
The bathroom for all the males to share has two sinks, two toilets, a long urinal, and a shower with two shower heads to accommodate the large group. It seemed apparent to me, upon surveying the situation, that I would not be taking a shower while I was there.
Fozia did the shopping for all meals. She made some outstanding choices of food for the TWA Fellows, which was different from what the kids were going to eat. The spread she put out included cheese plates, guacamole, oat and rice cakes, multigrain breads, dates, fresh and dried fruit, nuts, salad ingredients, pesto spreads, and the like. Fozia is a unifying force in the Leap School, a Malay Muslim who, according to the South African racial nomenclature is considered to be coloured, and refers to herself as black.
After settling in, we had a few orientation sessions. One was with the entire group, in which we introduced ourselves and talked about what we were looking forward to while here. We also went over some fundamental rules for the week at camp. Then, the larger group broke into two, during which the Life Orientation (L.O.) facilitators led the students in talking about some of the issues that they are now facing in their lives.
We had heard before we came here about L.O. It is a tough-love and in-your-face group therapy approach towards directing the students toward dealing with life issues that may be keeping them from being successful.
A few of the kids in my group mentioned that they were dealing with abuse of alcohol, as well as associating with friends they referred to as “gangsters.” Tyrone, one of the L. O. facilitators, was ruthless with the kids in having them recognize their personal responsibilities with regard to drinking as well as associating with others who are involved in criminal activities.
In defense of the kids, it seems to me that they certainly have a very difficult situation on their hands:
Leap School is not located in any of the communities in which they live, which means that they leave their home area every day to attend class. Then, when back home, they are surrounded by people who are still living there, including childhood friends with whom they have grown up and with whom they cannot but continue to associate.
It is evident that they get excellent support at school, as they are surrounded by other kids who are striving to get an education and change their lives. But once they are on their home turf, thrown back into the mix with others in their neighborhoods and communities, which are populated predominantly by people who are not on the same path toward better education and self-improvement, they have to struggle to be part of that group and be accepted as members. Their only choices are to participate in undesireable behaviors or risk being alienated by those around them.
In the late afternoon, there was a study session. The material that they were studying was related to their science and math. Some of the kids asked me for the meaning of some of the words associated with their reading. As I looked at the papers – with information about fertilizers and the way that they work – I felt useless in being able to help the kids, as much of the work included scientific formulas for the various kinds of fertilizers, about which I know nothing.
This was to be the one time during the entire camp session when I was supposed to be useful in helping out, yet I felt frustrated because the information was not anything I knew about.
The kids had their dinner and then went to their dorms, while the adults had a bit of an L. O. session of our own. It got to be much heavier than I anticipated, in that one new white teacher from the Leap School staff, now in the middle of her first year at this school, rather innocently expressed that she was now finally having an opportunity to meet and speak to others from Leap, and that this is the first time she is having the chance to do that.
The fact that these people she is finally relating to are black seemed to bring on allegations of her being racist. From what I could ascertain, she works at Leap 2 and the others work at Leap 1, two schools run separately, though they are located on separate floors of the same building.
This brought up some very tense and uncomfortable moments, with this teacher explaining that she and the other teachers simply are not working in the same places, and furthermore informing them of some of her family history, most critical of which was that her parents were active in working in “the struggle.” References here to “the struggle” means only one thing: the struggle to topple the apartheid regime. She made it clear that she was interested in meeting and working with all the teachers in the school, but that they were just not in the same place.
A few of the black members of the group interpreted this behavior on her part as being racist, and called her on it, which led to her crying and denials of that label.
It was difficult sitting there as an observer to this process. In my opinion, she had made a simple statement of facts – that she hadn't met some of the people here and was looking forward to getting to know them – and had been attacked in return.
This discussion was, for me, an example of how deeply the racial lines are drawn here in South Africa, and how difficult it is to overcome the divides that exist among the various racial groups.
Once that meeting was over, we were finally able to have our dinner. The kids had eaten already, more or less on time, but our dinner was close to two hours later then the scheduled 6:30.
After dinner, TWA members were on the schedule for being in charge of ninety minutes of games. We had met briefly to discuss what we would do. Most of the time was spent playing two games that Joy introduced to the group; these games were received with great enthusiasm by the kids, and we all had a hilarious time with them.
First up was Shuffle Your Butts. In this game, one person stood in the center of the ring of seats, and there was one empty seat. The point of the game was for everyone to shift their seats in order to prevent that person from sitting down. The method for shifting seats was for the person on one side of it to move into it, thus emptying her/his seat, which the person next to it would shift into, which created a chain of people, one after the next, emptying their seats.
There was very little time between one seat being empty and having somebody else fill it. The person in the middle had to anticipate a seat being empty so she could fill it. She also had the right to call out, “Change,” which meant that everyone shifting seats had to change direction, thus creating another opportunity to offer an empty seat.
The response to this – about sixty people in that large circle – was great hilarity.
Building on the success of that game, Joy introduced yet another one. This one was called Train Wreck, and it had a similar dynamic, with one person in the center having to find an empty seat. This person called out a statement such as, “I like people wearing hats,” at which all people wearing hats had to get out of their seats and race to another part of the circle to get another seat. The person in the center was also going for one of the empty seats, so that there would always be one more person than seats available.
If the person in the middle called out, “Train wreck,” it meant that everyone had to get up and find another seat.
Once again, everyone enjoyed the game and had a great time with it.
Bedtime came and the boys were not ready to sleep. Yes, the lights went out. Yes, they got into bed. That didn't mean that the talking stopped. It's a good thing I had my earplugs with me. They aren't one hundred percent effective, but they helped to block out most of the noise, so I was able to get to sleep.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
The boys were not only up at 6:00 AM, and not only talking, but one of them was singing at the top of his lungs and stomping rhythmically to accompany the singing, the way that they do when the choirs sing.
After breakfast, we had another L. O. session. It took a while to get going because nobody spoke up about any problems. We finally got rolling when one of the girls complained about how noisy some of them were the previous night when everyone was supposed to be going to sleep.
The L. O. facilitators picked up on this right away, and focused on the need for people to be respectful to others, which is part of the Leap School Code of Conduct. In listening to the students speak, I found it odd that when we are in a large group such as this, it is difficult for them to speak up loudly enough to be heard across the large room. They use very soft and conversational voices, as if the people they are speaking to are right next to them, despite the fact that they need to be heard by everyone in the rather large group. At other times, though, when they are speaking to each other in small groups, their voices are so loud that it is difficult to hear somebody who is right next to me and talking to me.
After the L. O. session, there was another study session. One of the English teachers from the school came to the camp to hand out instruction sheets for the kids to be able to write a five-page research paper based on their reading material.
Once I saw these directions, I found that I was going to be able to be useful to the kids, in that even though I was not familiar with the material about fertilizers, I could read a direction concerning what they needed to do with the subject matter, and then help them to find the answers to their questions from within the material.
I was pleased to find that I was finally going to be useful to the kids. I sat with a group of five boys who were working with their papers and I was able to lead them towards answering the first two questions that they needed to write for their paper.
There was another study session planned for the afternoon, and we all agreed to work together again so that they could advance further in their project.
The building in which we were sitting was cold; I'd guess it to be in the mid to upper fifties. I kept my scarf, gloves, jacket, and hat on during the morning. By lunchtime I had regained the sensation in my toes. The air was warming up a bit, but I also give body-warming credit to the butternut squash soup that Fozia had made for our lunch. After we ate, I gathered some of the cups and dishes so that I could wash them. I wasn't being totally altruistic, though: I was using the dishwashing water as a means of getting my hands warm.
We had a one-hour walk scheduled for the afternoon, but it started raining right around that time. There was no formal announcement of the walk being cancelled, though, and everyone seemed to scatter, with most of the kids retreating to their dorms.
The rain stopped, and there was then more than half an hour to go before the scheduled “values process group” at 2:30. I needed to get my body moving, so I walked a little bit, all the while watching the time so that I could adhere to one of the camp rules - “Be punctual” - and return in time for the group meeting.
I did get back in time, and found that there was really no reason to have done so, as we were sitting around, just chatting, until the group started to form at about 3:15, and we didn't get started with the group until just before 3:30 – a full hour after the announced time. They could have saved the paper used to print these schedules, since there was no adherence to announced times by the people who were in charge of enforcing them.
As our Executive Director Amy advised us, even though we are aware that things will not be done on time, we are to be on time ourselves, as evidence of our respect for the program.
The scheduled session began with an issue of one group making noise during the morning study session; this noise disturbed the other group, and there was once again considerable talk about showing each other respect. Another problem that was brought up was the disrespect being shown between the students of Leap 1 and Leap 2, the two entities that are being simultaneously operated within the same building.
We were half an hour into this discussion when three boys came into the room from outside the building and began to look for seats so they could join the group. The L. O. facilitators immediately switched the focus of the discussion to these three who were not part of the group to begin with. Where had they been? Never mind where they had been: they had been totally apart from the group for the last half-hour and were directed to go to their rooms, pack their bags, and prepare to be sent home. They would have to explain to their families what had happened, and come to school next Monday with their families.
Once back on track with the large group discussion, we continued for another half hour when four more boys waltzed into the group and tried to be discrete in finding seating. But there was no way that they could slip in, as it was evident to all present that they were there. A few of them were carrying grocery bags from Pick 'n Pay. It was obvious where they had been: AWOL to the nearest town.
Bonisile, the camp facilitator asked them, “Are you running your own program?”
These boys were told that they, too, would have to leave. But instead of their leaving the room immediately, the L. O. leaders this time chose to shift the group discussion towards finding out why they had gone AWOL and buying groceries.
The boys brought up complaints about the food that had been served. The facilitators were surprised that there were complaints about the food, especially in light of the fact that everyone had been asked, during the morning session, if the kids had anything that they wanted to talk about. Nobody had mentioned food as a complaint. Why hadn't they mentioned this when they had the opportunity to do so? the facilitator wanted to know.
The L. O. leaders are working on getting the kids to speak their minds about all issues, and this is a main focus of the Life Orientation groups: speaking your mind and addressing issues that concern you.
Once this group session was over, it was time to have dinner, which was running late anyway. A driver arrived with Tuksie, the principal of one of the Leap Schools. Tuksie was consulted in the kitchen about what had happened with the AWOL boys, and she decided, in concert with the other adults, that it would be too difficult to arrange for the driver to drive home each boy and explain to the parents what had happened. Not only that, but the driver came with a vehicle that would not have enough room for all of them.
In my opinion, it was probably a better decision to let the kids stay at the camp so that the staff could work with them on the resolution of the problems that led to their being AWOL in the first place.
Since this driver was going back to Cape Town after dropping her off, I seized my opportunity to return to the lodge rather than spend another night at the camp.
The schedule had been rearranged in such a way that the afternoon study session, at which I was going to help the guys with their research papers, was totally eliminated. All that was going to happen that evening was playing the group games, and then going to bed. Why stick around, I reasoned, and then return to the lodge in the morning, when I could be back there that evening? So I left with the driver.
Once back at the lodge, I found that the dozen or so TWA Fellows who had stayed behind were in high gear towards dinner preparation. They had settled upon a different approach towards eating: putting two tables together in the same room, and eating by candlelight. This was made possible simply by having a smaller group to work with. They said that they had done this both nights while we were at camp.
With my roommate still back at the camp, this was the first time since I left home that I had slept in a room by myself.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Most of the Fellows who had stayed behind at the lodge were picked up at 8:00 to be transported to camp. The minibus was then going to pick up the others at camp to bring them back to Cape Town.
It was cold at the lodge last night. Even with a heater in my room all night, the temperature in there was 59 degrees F.
I was delighted to have a hot shower and to get into some clean clothes. I hadn’t taken a lot of extra clothing with me to camp because we were told we would be there for only one night. That was one of the reasons I took the chance to leave when I did: I was simply not prepared, neither mentally nor physically, for two nights at camp instead of one.
I headed over to the school and assisted Sara with a session she conducted on creative writing. Then I went upstairs to the computer lab to catch up on e-mail and blogging, which was the first time I was online in two days.
In the evening, I prepared a pot of soup, but not everyone was there to help eat it, as about half of our already small group had gone down to the Waterfront to do some shopping and to eat dinner there.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Some of the TWA Fellows had classes to teach at the Leap School and some were still at camp. In the morning I went to the school to catch up on blogging and e-mails.
Back at the lodge for lunch, several of us had a discussion about the Life Orientation sessions that we had seen at camp. One of the group, training to be a psychologist, explained that it was nothing like any kind of therapy with which she is familiar.
Another choice bit of information came to light: gay men are not tolerated here in the black communities, and lesbians are killed. The Fellow who told us that explained that she had heard that one of the boys at camp was out to everyone and having a very difficult time. Statistically speaking, of course, there would have to be several more gay students. I don't blame them for keeping their mouths shut if they are gay, though, because it is definitely not a safe reveal.
On the other hand, Leon, a local tour guide who is helping us out, brought over a bunch of brochures about Cape Town and the region. One of the pieces he left with us was “The Pink Map Gay Guide to Cape Town,” which listed a wide variety of gay venues and included information about the Gape Town Gay Pride Festival and the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras.
There is apparently a divide along racial lines concerning the acceptability and visibility of being gay.
Lots of people are getting sick. Half a dozen or so are fighting bad colds.
In the evening I went to the Pinelands Toastmasters meeting. One of my objectives was to see if I could make some contacts with local Toastmasters who would be willing to do some work with students at the Leap School. Unlike my home club, where we meet every week, the local clubs here tend to meet only once a month, which made it all the more important that I attend the meeting. Otherwise, I would have missed it until it was time to go home.
I got lucky at the meeting: one of the people in attendance, who is not even a member of that club, was the man who is in charge of the local Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program! We exchanged contact information and hope to be able to be in touch later on about how to get Toastmasters involved at Leap School.
When I got back to the lodge it was after 10:00. A group was in the kitchen preparing dinner. The people who had been to camp weren't back yet. By the time everyone sat down to dinner it was 11:00, which was much too late for me to eat, as I was going to be heading to bed as soon as possible. I did sit there with everyone, though. It was important for everyone to be together, as four of the Fellows were going to Johannesburg the next day and will be staying there to work for a month at the Leap 3 School.
In the evening, the Internet, which had been working for a few days, lost its connection. We had wondered whether we were overloading it, but in this case, it seemed that I was the only one using it when it died, as everyone else was involved either in dinner preparation or socializing.
The weather took a turn for the better today. It was brilliantly sunny all day, and much warmer than the last few days. I was fine outside with my long-sleeved shirt and sweatshirt, not needing the jacket I had worn earlier in the week.
At night it was 67 degrees in my room, which was much more comfortable than the chilly 59 it had been the night before.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Taking advantage of the rare three-day weekend, most of the group rented cars and left town. This left six of us behind.
Joy, Dom, and I took a taxi downtown and had a chance to see the South Africa Jewish Museum, which is a beautiful cluster of buildings. Then we walked to the area where the Pan African Market is, and looked at the overpriced art that is made for tourists.
Sasho, Subina, and Karen came downtown later in the day and we all had dinner together. It was Karen's send-off, as her two-week stay with us is now over. She worked very hard at getting lots of videos taken and distributed.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
I did some shopping for the group, with the emphasis mostly on being sure that there is enough breakfast food for Monday.
With some free time on my hands, I also had a creative burst of energy and made some cards to send Nick. I got as far away as the Howard Centre, the nearby shopping center, and other than that I stayed around the lodge for the rest of the day.
Karen left this afternoon, and now there are five of us here. When she went to the airport, Joy and Dom went with her so that they could rent a car for a day trip tomorrow. The five of us will head out for the day together.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
We left the lodge about 9:30 AM. Joy rented a car. Sasho, Dom, Subina, Joy, and I headed west for a day of sightseeing.
We stopped for breakfast in Gordon's Bay. That was fun, as Sasho and I shared a bottle of champagne to pour into our orange juice to make mimosas. Then it was off to Betty's Bay and Stony Point.
The featured sight at Stony Point was penguins. The area is populated with a colony of African penguins, also known as jackass penguins. I have some photos of them and will be posting them soon.
Our furthest point east was Hermanus. Then we turned around and headed back to Cape Town International to drop off the car.
Good weekend!
Monday, 20 July 2009
Today school reconvened after the winter holidays. The students showed up in their uniforms, ready to learn.
The uniform consists of grey slacks for both boys and girls, though some girls are wearing grey skirts. All students wear white shirts, the school tie, which is mostly black with thin orange stripes, and either a long- or short-sleeved grey or black sweater. They look very professional and serious in their uniforms.
The teacher to whom I am assigned to work was out of school sick. There is a student teacher who was in and out (mostly out) of her classes to get the students going in a writing assignment. For part of the morning, there was also a TWA Fellow in the classroom; this is somebody who is getting some student teaching credit from her home college program for doing student teaching here at the Leap School..
When I heard the assignment that the kids were to work on, I couldn't believe it: what I did during my vacation! That old cliché writing project is not just American, but international!
There were some twists on this assignment, though, in that the students were to work on three sheets of paper: the first was a mind map, the second a rough draft, and the third was the final copy. Additionally, according to what I heard from the instructions given by Andisani, the Leap School student teacher, the kids were to emphasize the bad things that had happened during their vacation.
In the middle of the morning, I was pulled out of the classroom so that Joy and I could attend a meeting with Sammy, the director of the Learning Center, where many of the students go for assistance with their work. Integral to the Learning Center are many tutors, most of whom come from other African countries, and who also need help themselves with their writing skills in English.
Sammy is going to be in touch with the tutors this week to find out times when they can come to the school for assistance with their writing. Joy and I are going to be working with them. That part of my schedule, therefore, is still unclear, but it is clear that time I work with these tutors is time that I will not be in class with Jenni, my assigned teacher.
At lunch time, those of us Fellows assigned to the Leap 1 School, which is about eight of us, had social time in the staff room with the school faculty. Tuksie, the principal, is very welcoming and inclusive. According to her, we are members of the staff just like all the other teachers, and have all the same rights and responsibilities.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
I arrived in class to see that yet another student teacher was speaking to the class, but not in English. I imagine it was Xhosa that they were speaking. He handed out a reading assignment and then left.
Once he was gone, kids were coming to me for explanations of vocabulary words in their reading. It was clear to me that the assignment was over their heads, as there were too many words that the kids didn’t comprehend.
Being the only adult in the room, I went to the head of the class, introduced myself, and then began explaining some of the vocabulary.
In general, the school is well-stocked, but there have been several occasions when a marking pen for the whiteboard was simply not around, or there was no eraser. One of the kids went to find a writing pen, said there were none available, and left it at that. Then another kid found one at the back of the room. I think I am going to have to purchase my own and keep it with me at all times so that at least I will be able to write on the board.
I did the best I could in explaining the vocabulary and context. This is something I am able to do.
Once the class was over, I saw Jenni at the back of the room. She had been in the building all along, but in an adjacent room. It is clear she is still not feeling well, and I will do what I can to help her out with her classes.
Following that class, I had a break for about an hour. At the end of the break, I took a look at the schedule I am supposed to be following. I realized that the class I stepped in to teach, though it was held in Jenni’s classroom – the one with her name on the door – it was evidently NOT her class, as her class was in the next room! I had taught the wrong class! I have no idea whose class it was supposed to be, but I guess I won’t be seeing those kids again.
I attended the other classes for the day, but pretty much just sat there, as Jenni did her teaching. I offered Amy to help her with her student teaching lessons, as she is going to be taking over a few of Jenni's classes.
In the afternoon I took a walk to the Howard Centre to get my hair cut. It was getting long and I wanted to keep it that way, but it's at the stage where it was unruly, so I went for a shorter cut that is easier to keep under control.
In the evening, Joy informed me that there will be a change in my schedule; I am going to be reassigned to Leap 2 as of tomorrow. I am to report to Gus, the Leap 2 principal, first thing tomorrow morning so that we can come up with classes for me to work with.
Joy got a schedule from Sammy today, too, and I will be working with a small group of tutors in the Learning Center for an hour a day three days a week. So that part is falling into place.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
I met with Gus in the morning and was assigned to my new teacher, Cathy. In the morning I observed her in one of her classes.
By noon, though, I had to leave the school because last week I made a lunch appointment to meet with a Toastmaster who works in the Old Mutual building very close to the school. I am trying to build up some local support for Toastmasters working with Leap School students so that the Youth Leadership Program can continue here long after TWA leaves the area.
In the evening there was yet another Toastmasters meeting, which was a different club meeting in the same building as the one from last week. I met the District Governor, who is supportive of working with Leap School, and I also met the president of the club, who works at Old Mutual and comes every Tuesday to mentor students at TSiBA, the program housed in the same building as Leap School.
It was a very successful meeting, in that I was asked to speak to the group about my involvement with Leap Schools and Teach With Africa. People seemed very positive about being able to help out if they can. One of the people I met at the meeting identified himself as a friend of Gus and a former student of John Gilmore.
At the two Toastmasters meetings I have been to here, they have beer and wine for sale. People enjoy their beverages during the meeting. Each meeting also includes a toast to South Africa. Last week, the simple and poignant toast was, “To South Africa and her people.” I was moved to see the entire membership lift their glasses and respond in unison, “To South Africa and her people.”
This week, in light of the fact that last Saturday was Nelson Mandela Day, there was a toast to him and his past leadership of South Africa.
Whereas the first club meeting I went to was all white, this club included people of other races, too. It’s hard to know how widespread are the sentiments among South Africans that all people living here have to work together, but I was happy to see that it was very much in evidence at this meeting.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
I met for the first time with the people who tutor at the Leap Schools Learning Centre. Ten of them showed up for the meeting today, and nine of the ten are from the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). They are Francophone, which helps to explain some of the mistakes that they make in their speaking English. The tenth one is from Zimbabwe.
Joy and I are working together with these folks. We had them do a little writing so that we could go over what they had written to see what kinds of similar mistakes they make, and then will tailor our instruction to that.
I took home the notebooks in which they wrote and then I put together an instruction sheet. Cathy, the English teacher with whom I am working, does not have the benefit of an English textbook. What she does is photocopy worksheets and then hands them out to her class, along with glue sticks. The kids use the glue sticks to paste the worksheets into their notebooks. Thus, they create their own textbook/notebook.
In the afternoon, those of us TWA Fellows assigned to Leap 2 attended their staff meeting. This was the first meeting since the recent winter vacation. Gus, the principal, focused the faculty on goal-setting and the work that they have to do for the remainder of the school year.
These teachers work longer hours and more days than most teachers in the USA. In addition to their normal work week, people sign up for evening tutoring sessions and Saturday tutoring sessions.
Friday, 24 July 2009
Each of the two Leap Schools has its own weekly community meetings. These are programmed and run by the various tutor classes, which works out to be something like what we would call a homeroom.
The important emphasis here is that while the teachers are present for the meeting, it is the students who are charged with the responsibility for putting together and running the meeting. For this meeting, there were performances by a choir and a solo dance by one of the students. Both were warmly and enthusiastically received by the entire student body.
Following the community meeting was the weekly staff tea, which took place during the lunch hour. On a rotating basis, faculty bring in food for everyone to share, and they consume this together in the staff room every Friday. It creates a nice communal feeling for the staff to be able to do this together at least once a week.
In the afternoon, I met with Cathy, my newly assigned teacher, and she gave me a schedule that she had sketched out with regard to how I could help out during the upcoming weeks during which we will work together. I will write more about that as the time advances.
Capetonians are characterized as being among the most laidback of all South Africans, and as people who treasure their weekends. I have heard a few people describe the weekend as including Friday and Monday, in that on Friday everyone is more concerned with preparing for their weekend (instead of working) and that on Monday they are still recovering from the weekend, and not yet in full work mode.
I was ready for the weekend – not that I had worked particularly hard, but I was looking forward to a greater degree of autonomy with regard to where I go and how I spend my time.
We have been advised on several occasions by a few different people that the trains here are unsafe. I am trying to sort out the truth from the fantasy. My guess is that there may be some degree of danger in riding on the trains, but that the largest aspect of the so-called danger is rooted in the minds of the people who are warning against riding them, as these people are (a) rich and (b) white. My initial assumption, therefore, is that the largest issues we are dealing with are classism and racism, as opposed to danger.
In a recent e-mail from the TWA management, there was expression of “concern about ongoing safety,” with the suggestions that we “look out for each other.” I very much agree with that and the advice that, “Two is always safer than one.” By the same token, we were also advised to, “Take things on a case-by-case basis, assessing the situation, and use your best judgment.”
I am a cautious person who does decidedly NOT take chances with my own life and wellbeing. At the same time, I do not want to be imprisoned by somebody else's fear or perception thereof.
I write all of this as an prelude to my explanation that on Friday afternoon I took the train from Mutual, the stop nearest our lodge, to Cape Town. (Additional note: the train costs R5.50, about 70 cents, compared to a taxicab, which varies, depending on what the meter shows, but a typical fare is R120, about $15.)
I add that during the time I was on the train, we were leading up to rush hour and there were, therefore, many people on board. While the trains seemed a bit dingy and probably not up to the standards that the rich white South African minority generally enjoys, I did not sense any element of danger in my being there.
Several times on board a singing blind person was led by a sighted guide from one end of the train to the other. While I do not have numbers or statistics to back this up, in my assessment the percentage of people who dug into their pockets and purses to put spare change into the blind person's cup was significantly higher than what I have seen in such places as the New York subway.
(Note: Read to the end of this post to find some additional information about the trains.)
My first destination for the evening was the synagogue where the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation has its kabbalat shabbat services. People who enter the compound, which also includes the South Africa Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Museum, have to show identification and answer lots of questions.
The guard asked me where I was staying and how I got there. When I told him I had come from Pinelands on the train, his eyes about bugged out of his head. “Are you going back there on the train tonight?” he wanted to know. I told him that I would be returning by taxi, to which he expressed his relief.
I always enjoy experiencing services when I travel to other countries. This beautiful synagogue hosted a service that was a fairly mixed bag in that it included elements of a range of practices from Orthodox to progressive. Some of the elements were:
The women are seated separately, upstairs. The chazzan sang from a central bimah and was accompanied during much of the service by a chorus of about ten men. There were announcements of page numbers in English, many tunes were recognizable, and the young Chasidic rabbi gave a sermon in English. At the end of the service, all children came to the front of the shul to participate in kiddush, and this included the girls as well as the boys.
After the service, I walked to Long Street, where I wanted to have dinner in an Ethiopian restaurant I had spotted there earlier. It was on the higher end of cost, but still fairly reasonable by US standards.
After my meal, it was easy to find a taxi to come back to the lodge, as they are plentiful on Long Street.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
The Leap School hosts tutoring sessions from nine to noon on Saturdays. I worked for a bit with somebody who was taking one of the practice exams that leads to taking the final matriculation exam, but that didn't last long because she was needed to work on an English project with a classmate. She said she would return to the Monday evening tutoring session, so I told her I would show up for that and help her there.
The other night at the Toastmasters meeting, when I gave my business card to the District Governor, he noticed that I listed myself as being a personal organizer. In doing so, he told me that he knew somebody locally who did the same sort of work, and he put me in touch with her.
That is how I met Tracey and Doug. Tracey is the co-founder of the Professional Organiser Association Africa. She is very interested in doing public speaking; Doug has also been a Toastmaster.
They picked me up at the lodge in the early afternoon and we headed out for a long drive, along with their children, Ryland and Deena.
Our first stop was the Rhodes Monument, dedicated to John Cecil Rhodes, with fabulous views of the area below. We drove through Kirstenbosch, to Hout Bay, and Camps Bay. It was enjoyable being in their company and with the children as well.
On the way home, I asked if it was out of their way to drop me off at Canal Walk, the big shopping mall. Doug said it wasn't, but as long as I was going there, they could pick up a new set of earphones for Ryland's iPod. I was keen to pick up my new reading glasses, as I had received a call that they were ready. In picking up my new glasses, I also deposited all my old pairs with the store, as they donate them to the Lions.
We didn't stay there long. They dropped me off at the lodge on their way home, which is about forty-five minutes away.
In the evening, everyone at the lodge who is under the age of sixty (which would mean everyone except for three of us) was preparing to head out for the evening. That left the place very quiet for a restful evening at home, catching up on writing and e-mails.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
The excellent weather is holding out, with a warm and sunny weekend!
I was going to go downtown to walk around Long Street and that area, but I got a call from Liz, a Toastmaster I had met, to ask me if I would like to go to church with her in the morning and then take a walk with her and her dog in the afternoon. I passed on the church, but accepted her offer to walk with her dog.
She picked me up and also had her friend Jo with her. I found out that Liz is originally from Zambia and Jo is from Zimbabwe. We took a nice drive to Noordhoek Beach and walked along there with Indi, Liz's Labrador, who was happy to play with all the other dogs, as well as go into and out of the surf.
We also stopped for tea at a local cafe that is welcoming to people with their dogs. Indi got his bowl of water and sat next to us at our table.
One of the things that I talked about with Liz and Jo was the safety factor of riding the trains. They both agreed that the idea of their being dangerous dates back to the eighties and nineties, when there were some violent occurrences and security was lax. Since that time, they both informed me, security has been added and there have been very rare incidences that would make them unsafe. One of them has a daughter who uses the trains all the time to visit friends and go to school.
I was happy this weekend to build connections with people who have not only been welcoming to me as a visitor to their country, but may also eventually be helpful to the program at Leap School.
Monday, 27 July 2009
It was a long and productive day at Leap School. In the morning, I worked with Cathy in two separate meetings of one of her classes. We met the first time in the classroom, where they were working on rough drafts of articles they are putting together for a newsletter. Later on the same morning, we met in the computer lab, where they were typing their articles into Word documents.
In the English class that I co-teach for the primary school tutors, they were writing about languages that they speak. One of the women wrote that she speaks Swahili, so I asked all of them if they also speak Swahili; they do. That gave me a chance to greet them in one of the only Swahili phrases I know, which is “jambo habariako,” meaning “good morning.”
At lunchtime, we TWA Fellows had a long meeting with John Gilmour about the Life Orientation (L. O.) meeting process as it is carried out at Leap School. The students are not only encouraged but exhorted to be honest, admit mistakes, confront issues, and be open to change. The L. O. meetings are one of the ways that the adults help them to keep on track.
This reminds me that I have not as of yet written the Leap Code of Conduct, which is the watchword on student and teacher behavior in the school. It is written on posters throughout the school:
Be kind.
Be honest.
Be punctual.
Look good.
Be healthy.
Work hard.
Never give up.
Admit mistakes.
Learn from mistakes.
Confront issues.
Be open to change.
Work together.
Share as much as possible.
Getting back to L. O: to the untrained outsider, it looks like a group therapy session and can also be confrontive. John and some of the L. O. staff helped us to gain a better understanding of the process.
In the evening, I was back at the school to help during the evening tutoring session. The student I was supposed to help had been absent from school that day, so Gus, the principal, assigned another to me.
Part of the matriculation exam, which every student must pass in order to apply for university admission, includes the reading of a passage and then answering questions based on it. Toward the end of giving students practice in both reading and answering comprehension questions, the Department of Education of the Republic of South Africa provides sample passages for the students to work on.
The selection I was working on tonight with two of the “metrics” (which is what they call what we would call seniors) was entitled “Elvis and Shakespeare have Broadway 'All Shook Up'.” It was challenging, to say the least.
Starting with the title itself, the students I was working with knew the name Shakespeare, but had no idea who Elvis was, what Broadway is, or the significance of the phrase “All Shook Up.”
And that was only for starters!
Continuing through the piece were enough cultural references so as to confuse the students: gold discs, Memphis, Tennessee; Fargo, North Dakota; and too many others to mention. The students had not only to read this selection but then answer questions at the end.
Each question refers to specific lines and paragraphs in the story. I tried to help by suggesting that the students read the questions first so that they know what kind of information they are looking for as they read the selection. This seemed to help a bit, as they were able to focus their attention.
It still made for a rough and frustrating session.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
The high point of my day was a brief meeting with Johanna, the director of the sewing collective in Kolkfontein. She had completed a few objects I had given to her and wanted to meet so that we could assess the work so far.
In the evening, I spoke with Joy, who had spent time at one of the feeder schools. She thinks it would be a good idea for me to spend time there as well. I agree. But it leads to a logistical question that has to be addressed, in that I have received a schedule for the next several weeks from Cathy, the teacher with whom I am working. Now that she expects that I will be working with her, Cathy has identified various lesson topics for me to help her teach, as well as putting together a timetable when I can help her out in both the classroom and the computer lab. I have agreed to do this.
While it is true that we need to be flexible with our schedules, at the same time, if a person has asked me to make a commitment and I have agreed to do so, don't I have to schedule the flexibility around the already-made agreement? This is definitely something that has to be sorted out, especially in light of the fact that (1) I have already changed assigned teachers and (2) right now we are only four weeks away from our departure.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
In the morning Joy and I taught our English class to the adult tutors. This continues to be enjoyable and it is also somewhat spontaneous, in that it is hard to know what direction in which our teaching will go. It all depends on the needs of these adult students, which are coming up as we go along.
Then I worked with Cathy in a double period during which she distributed and discussed a poem by W. H. Auden (“Funeral Blues”). After the class had their lesson concerning words that they may not have understood, they divided into four groups. Each group was given the responsibility of expressing one of the stanzas. They were allowed to add percussion sounds (drums, xylophone), repeat lines, and they also had to figure out which lines, words, or phrases would be spoken by the entire group, only a few voices, or a solo voice.
While their work began in a very noisy and chaotic manner, I was quite pleased to see the way they finally focused on their work and made the creative decisions that had to be made in order to perform their stanzas.
I came back to the lodge in the middle of the afternoon to create a lesson on pronouns for Cathy's class. She asked me to teach that next week. She asked me to be mindful of the fact that in Xhosa, the home language of her students, there is no distinction between “he” and “she,” or “him” and “her.”
Thursday, 30 July 2009
I began the day in the computer lab with Cathy’s class, which is working on their newsletter. Cathy asked me to help grade the papers. She is going to do the same thing, and she is going to compare the grades I give to the ones she has. One of the surprising aspects of grading in several places I have seen in Africa is how low a score can be on a student's paper and it can still be considered to be a passing grade.
Here, 50% is passing. It was similar in Mauritania, where the maximum grade on all tests and at the end of the class was 20, and 10 was the lowest passing grade.
By comparison, if I remember correctly from my own education, a grade below 60 or 65% (depending on the school) was considered failing.
In the afternoon we had two meetings. First up was one about the workshops that we are going to be giving in August over the course of two weekends. I had signed on to help out with the workshop about speaking and writing. Two other TWA Fellows are not here yet, so I was advanced (by whoever put the meeting schedule together) from being the helper to being in charge of the workshop.
This workshop is going to be presented to teachers from the area primary schools. They are keen to get some useful information about teaching writing. Maud and Steven, two Leap School teachers, are on the team of teachers who will be teaching this workshop; they recently got back from the USA, where they attended some writing classes for teachers from several countries around the world. They had plenty of ideas about what the teachers here could use.
For the second meeting, we divided up by the staffs of Leap 1 and Leap 2. An agenda item was a directive from John, director of Leap Schools, who has just put into place the precise number of classroom periods we TWA Fellows are to be collaborating with the Leap School teachers. In going through my current schedule, I found that I am a few hours short each week. Steven does not have a TWA Fellow to work with him, so he asked me if I assist him a few hours a week, and I will.
In our speaking to each other, I learned that Steven is now in his first year at Leap School and that he has taught for four years in Nagoya, Japan as well as having worked briefly a few blocks away from where I live in San Francisco. It was fun to speak Japanese with him.
Once the meetings were over, I headed to downtown Cape Town for the weekend. Each of us TWA Fellows has one three-day weekend during our two months here. This weekend is mine. I checked into a hotel so that I could experience some of the city vibes for three days.
When I bought my train ticket to Cape Town, I also purchased a one-way ticket that I was intending to use for the return trip on Sunday. The lines at the main station can be very long, so my intention was to avoid having to wait in the queue on Sunday.
In the evening when I had some free time, I was examining my ticket and found that (1) it expired at the end of the day on which it was purchased and (2) I was sold a first-class ticket, even though I had asked for “a ticket,” not a first-class ticket. The price, R5.50, was the same that I have been paying all long, so this is what I have consistently paid for, but I have been sitting in the third-class compartments.
I had been told that the third-class trains were safer because they usually have more people in them. If the richer people are in the first-class trains, they are the ones who are targeted by thieves. Another person told me that the Cape Town trains on platform 2 at the Mutual station were safer than the ones on platform 6 because they are coming from places that he deemed to be safer.
Friday, 31 July 2009
I was up early today and headed to the hotel lobby, where there is not only Internet access, but Skype loaded onto the computers. I logged onto gchat to see if Nick was there. He was! Then I was able to phone him using Skype.
Starting my day that way gave me a lift. It was cold and rainy, but I walked around all morning in a glow of sunshine and warmth because I had spoken to him.
I had a mission for the morning, and that was to find some fabric that I could buy to make bags that will cover wine bottles when they are given as gifts. The only fabric I have seen so far has been on sale at the markets that target tourists. The salespeople in these places are asking R200 (about $26) a meter for their wares, and that is way too high. Since they start at that price, I don’t even feel like negotiating with them. The fabric should be about R40 a meter (about $5), based on what I paid for it when I was living in Mauritania.
When I packed for the weekend, I wanted to minimize the possessions I was taking with me, to make it easier to travel. I chose only one pair of shoes, and the sneakers I had on proved to be the most inappropriate footwear for a rainy day. It didn’t take too long before my feet and socks were soaked.
Fortunately, it also didn’t take too long to find a store that had a huge variety of fabric and notions. The only people shopping in there were locals, as it was way off the beaten tourist path. I found some beautiful fabric at the exact price that I anticipated: R40! And it is manufactured right here in South Africa.
During the day I got a call from Andre, whom I had met at Toastmasters. He wanted me to attend a business seminar that evening. I had already committed to going to services at the Gardens Shul, but the services were going to be over by about 7:00 PM and Andre said that he could pick me up there at that time.
The services were more sparsely attended this week than last, but also enjoyable. I love the men’s choir that accompanies the cantor.
The rabbi’s sermon was about not only loving one person – and I can happily relate to that now that I am in love again – but also in trying to find a way to observe Shabbat. My weekly Shabbat observance is minimal, but I do pay token attention to this weekly day of rest by staying off the computer for twenty-four hours.
By the time 7:00 came, the service was almost but not quite over. I headed out to meet Andre, who arrived shortly after I got out. We headed to the CTICC – the Cape Town International Convention Center, a beautiful set of building with lots of facilities for large meetings.
Andre was cryptic about the purpose, but he did refer to it as a “business building seminar.” When he gave me my ticket, I saw that there was a reference on it to “business attire.” And here I was, wearing what they call “tackies” here (sneakers – the aforementioned running shoes, which were now dry).
It didn’t take too long for me as an audience member to see that what they were talking about was not only selling products, but there were also continual references to sales “teams.” I started to catch on to the fact that this is a multi-level marketing business. Throughout the evening, people who had achieved the “next level” of salesmanship were trotted across the stage and accorded standing ovations.
As the products were introduced they were referred to as being an “online shopping mall.” At one point, the name Amway was mentioned. Then, as it turned out, I learned that all the products – though the name differed from the Amway brand – were produced by that corporation.
One person after the next talked about their dreams for financial freedom and more free time, as well as for the hopes of a secure retirement and a better life for their children.
As I sat there, I realized how un-Shabbat the entire experience was: sitting there with people talking about work and finances.
I don’t have anything against people improving their lives and being successful. The entire thrust, however, was not what I want for myself, with a huge emphasis on five-star hotels, all-you-can-eat buffets, first class travel, expensive cars, large homes, boats, and executive toys.
I was happy that people didn’t ask me to join them. I feel fortunate that I don’t need to spend any more of my life working towards earning money. My retirement income is enough for me because my needs are simple and I am satisfied with what I have. I choose to focus on what I have, which never fails to make me grateful.
Not only that, but I do not want to make calls to friends and family and have the ulterior motive of selling things to them. The people in my life are ones whom I care for, and I never want any of them to be referred to as being in my “upline” or “downline,” as people were referred to by many of those who spoke to the audience that evening.
Saturday, 1 August 2009
I was able to spend much of the day walking and discovering what was available in Cape Town. The stores here start to close at about 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon!
As I was perusing Long Street, I ran into five of my TWA colleagues, who were eating a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We walked around a bit. Two of them had had pairs of boots made, so they were on the way to pick them up.
Sunday, 2 August 2009
The sunny and warm weather has returned! It definitely gives me a lift!
Most of Cape Town shuts down for the weekend, despite the fact that there are still tourists here. There are a few street merchants and a sprinkling of shops open, but there is definitely a diminished population in town.
Doug, a friend of Elizabeth's, is studying at the University of Cape Town for this semester, and we have been in touch, trying to find a time to meet. Today was the day, and he came into Cape Town so that we could spend the afternoon together.
We started by visiting the Castle of Good Hope, a fort that is near the main part of town. From there we went for lunch at a place I have passed several times but where I had not yet eaten: the Eastern Food Bazaar, which specializes in food from the Middle East and India. All the food is halaal and there is no alcohol served. It is a food court, where you pay for your meal at a central register and then take the receipt to the vendor that sells the food you want.
My favorite food is Middle Eastern/Mediterranean. I have never met a plate of hummus and falafel that I didn't like – until today, that is. The hummus was bland and the falafel was dry. I imagine I will go back to this place, but I will try one of the other vendors; one of them had paratha and another had vegetarian curry.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Cathy, the teacher with whom I am working, is out sick with the flu. I was supposed to teach two of her classes today, but that has changed: I am teaching all six of them.
They do things here that would not be acceptable in most high schools I know about in the USA. First of all, teachers have six classes instead of five. Secondly, there are no substitute teachers. When a teacher is absent, they get other teachers who have a free period to cover classes. That means that teachers who are already teaching six periods now get saddled with a seventh one so that they can cover for their colleague. That is what I call overworking the already-overworked.
Another popular strategy is that there are meetings at lunchtime. In San Francisco, the “duty-free lunch” was considered to be a basic human right for all teachers. We all know that there is no free lunch, but how about a free lunch period?
The day has eleven forty-minute instructional periods that run from 8:15 AM to 5:15 PM. There are three periods, a twenty-minute break, four periods, a forty-five-minute lunch, two periods, a twenty-minute break, and then two more periods.
To their credit, the kids were extremely cooperative and friendly. I have not seen any of what you may call an old-fashioned discipline problem from a kid. They always respond to me by adding “sir” at the end of what they say: “Good morning, sir,” “Yes, sir,” “You're welcome, sir.”
Teachers move around and tend to teach in several different classrooms. One of the results of this is that since teachers don't have more permanent links to the classrooms, they tend to be stark and not personalized to the subjects taught in them. In my experience, American teachers tend to view their classrooms as a second home and also get very territorial about them.
Teachers here have to carry around their own supplies: whiteboard markers, erasers, glue sticks, and the like. There is no storage space for these items to be left in the rooms.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Cathy was out again and we used e-mail to arrange for work to give to the kids. She is not the only one sick. Lots of the kids are coughing and listless. One of them referred to it in her writing as “the Leap flu.” Most of the TWA Fellows have had at least a cold, if not worse. So far, I consider myself lucky to have made it unscathed.
The most common advice back at home is for kids to stay home when they are sick. Here, that is not necessarily the best thing to so, as their homes are not well heated. School is warmer than home, so they come in sick, and that exacerbates the problem by spreading the germs.
The morning schedule was thrown out of whack to accommodate a visiting hockey team from England. An assembly was inserted into the schedule and then, in order to make up for that time, the following four periods were changed.
This change in routine was not taken well by many of the teachers, who are concerned about teaching their curriculum and following through on their usual plans.
This is a dynamic with which I was intimately familiar from my own teaching days: administrators changing the schedules to make room for all sorts of programs, frequently at the last minute. As a result, I put forward these three age-old unanswerable questions:
1. Is there a God?
2. What is the meaning of life?
3. Why can’t they just let us teach?
When I mentioned these questions to one of the teachers here, his response was, “You know, I think we can get an answer for the first two.”
(PLEASE NOTE: It is absolutely NOT my intention to disparage Leap School in any way by mentioning this incident and the collective response to it. My point is more on the order of the universality of teachers and their response when the teaching schedules are changed.)
Cathy’s classes went smoothly. The kids are reasonably polite and cooperative. They are teenagers, though, and they try to get away with whatever they can. But I was able to deal with it.
By the end of the school day, the rains had come – and me without a jacket or umbrella. Fortunately, the walk to the lodge from the school is not too far.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Cathy came back to school today and resumed teaching her classes. I taught my group of adult tutors and also checked in with Cathy about the progress we made in her absence.
Cathy told me that one of the kids told her, “Mr. Davidson smiles all the time.” Cathy very kindly gave me some delicious chocolate bars to thank me for stepping in for her.
At lunchtime, several of us assigned to Leap 2 met with Gus, the principal. He wanted us to check in with him to see how things were going.
I met briefly with Steven, who asked me last week if I could work with him in one of his grade 11 English classes. We scheduled that for tomorrow and Friday.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Cathy was out today. She should not have come in yesterday and was simply too ill to return to school. I was able to take over her classes. Fortunately, it was her lightest day of the week, with only three classes to cover.
The classes themselves were easy to handle. There were a lot of other events of the day:
We had a meeting for our upcoming Teacher Development Workshops. These are going to be held the next two Fridays and Saturdays as a joint effort between Leap School staff and Teach With Africa Fellows, as a way of having a meaningful impact on the communities served by the Leap Schools. The idea is for the teachers of the feeder schools to come to these workshops so that they can make an improvement in their instruction.
I am part of the team that is preparing a workshop about Speaking and Writing. We had our second meeting on this topic and have a rough idea of what we will present. Our class will be on Saturday the 15th.
Though I had volunteered to be a part of this group, I have somehow been propelled into the position of being in charge of it. As such, I have had to face a situation that may prove to be uncomfortable to one of our TWA Fellows who is joining us this weekend.
This person has spent a significant amount of time preparing his contribution for this workshop. His focus was for all of the participants to create poems in response to a video that he is going to prepare when he gets here. At our first meeting, I copied the explanation of the work that he had already done. All five Leap teachers decided that the students here need more work on their prose writing than on poetry writing.
The Leap teachers had very different ideas as to the way they want this workshop to be run. In response to what they said, I had to reflect back to the rationale for inclusion of the word "with" in the name Teach With Africa. This word was quite deliberately chosen as a means of showing collaboration between the two groups of people involved: those of us from the USA and the local community.
What made the most sense to me was to listen to the local teachers who feel that they want this workshop to go into a different direction. When this Fellow arrives during the weekend, I will have to inform him of the change of plans, based on the needs of the local teachers.
After that, Leap 2 had our staff meeting and then we headed to Langa for the HIV Prevention Awareness Day. The bus that transported us there was playing music by Screechine Dion. I do not understand the Africans' love of her voice, but I have experienced it to be overwhelmingly admiring of it. Yuck!
The assembly was held at the Johnson Ngwevela Hall, also known as the Langa Civic Hall. It was supposed to run from 3:30 to 4:25. Schedules being what they are here, it started a half-hour late and went an hour longer, even when the final few bits were removed from the program.
The audience was amazingly disrespectful during the entire presentation. Unsupervised elementary school kids were talking and walking around the auditorium during the entire time. I have never seen a more uninvolved school-aged crowd. It didn't help that there were other activities going on simultaneously in the same room, such as the serving of food at the back of the room. It was agonizing to be part of the audience, as it was not possible to understand the proceedings. Many of the adults were certainly not good role models for the youngsters. The Leap students, who made up a considerable part of the audience, were well-behaved, yet with everyone else talking during the program, many of them followed suit.
Teach With Africa presented a song about Rosa Parks. The relationship between her and AIDS awareness was tangential. The idea was that she stood up for what she believed in and that those in the audience should stand their ground when it comes to remaining safe against pressure to do unsafe things concerning AIDS.
I have heard several more local pronunciations that have left me puzzled:
party is pronounced "potty."
other is pronounced "ahdah."
father is pronounced "fahdah."
third is pronounced "ted."
dirty is pronounced "dettah."
learning is pronounced "lanning."
I thought that I may be catching the same cold that is going around. Zicam to the rescue! Good thing I brought some of that with me!
Friday, 7 August 2009
Cathy was out again today. The students greeted me warmly. One of the boys early in the morning greeted me by saying, "Sir, you're always smiling." I was thinking about that. So many of these children are smiling and enthusiastic themselves; it's hard not to smile back when I see their happy faces.
I haven't manifest any further symptoms of the illness floating around. It seems that the Zicam has doing its job.
In the evening I returned to Cape Town to attend services at the synagogue.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Our Teacher Training Workshops continued. I was not able to attend yesterday afternoon because I was teaching, but I did attend the morning session today, which was about differentiated learning.
The main thrust behind the workshop was to teach the teachers about the Multiple Intelligences and the learning modalities of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.
These are topics that I have been trying to teach to teachers in what is now three African countries, as well as India. The presenters did a great job and I wonder if the teachers in the room will be able to use the information in their classrooms.
I definitely have a cold: I can feel it in my body, and yet it is not bothering me nearly as much as it would ordinarily. The medication is doing a great job.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
It's another clear, warm, and sunny day. We have certainly been getting the great weather. Capetonians are referring to this as summer weather, but I think that it is warmer during their summers.
I headed into the town by train to have lunch with two members of Couchsurfing.com. One of them lives in Bellville, a suburb, and when I told him that I had heard about a market that is held at the train station in Bellville, he said that he had never been there.
Neither of these people had ever been on any of the trains here. It seems that very few white people do, indeed, use the trains. They tend to have their own cars and rely on them.
At the station, when I was heading to the track for my return train, I was stopped at the turnstile by the agent posted there. My ticket said "MUTUAL TO CAPE TOWN SINGLE METRO" and she did not let me in because it was supposed to say "CAPE TOWN TO MUTUAL."
These posts are not always staffed. In all the times I have been using the trains I have been asking for two single tickets and not paying attention to the order in which they are printed.
At the issuing ticket booth, the agent could not exchange the MUTUAL TO CAPE TOWN ticket for a CAPE TOWN TO MUTUAL ticket, so I bought another one. At R4.20, it is just a bit more than fifty cents, so that was no big deal. But I definitely have to pay attention to that in the future.
Monday, 10 August 2009
We began our day with a breakfast meeting with John Gilmour at the lodge. He had a PowerPoint presentation for us, showing graphics that indicated the need for much work that has to be done in South Africa and the rest of this continent. I will not go into it here, as words will be incapable of describing the significance of his words and his images. I am going to look into the possibility of getting this linked to the Teach With Africa website.
Today is a national holiday: National Women's Day. It commemorates the day in 1956 when 20,000 women marched against the Union Building in Pretoria to protest the then-existing "pass laws," under which non-white citizens had to prove that they were allowed in white areas by showing their passes, also refered to as passports.
Each of the Leap Schools held separate celebrations of the day. The school wants the students to have not just a day off, but a day of understanding its significance. We first went to Langa, where the Leap 1 group was, and then a smaller group of us went to the township of Crossroads for the Leap 2 gathering.
For almost two hours, there were speeches, dancers, choirs, drumming, and prayers with much of the Leap 2 student body in attendance, as well as community members in the audience. This was a tightly-run program with an attentive and appreciative audience.
The speeches and all other introductions were in Xhosa, so I can't say that I understood the words, but the joyous spirit shone through.
Towards the end of the program, Gus, the principal of Leap 2, addressed the audience and conveyed the two reasons for our being together:
(1) to remember to commemmorate the roles of women in South African society, and to thank those mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters for their contributions to our lives.
(2) to remember the 20,000 women who marched in 1956 to protest the inequality that existed then and to recognize also the challenges that women still face in South Africa, with the high incidences of rape, physical abuse, and the non-sharing of equality with men.
In explaining these, Gus challenged the Leap students to talk about their lives, and in so expressing their lives, he explained that the change in South Africa begins with them. If they act differently, then the needed changes will continue.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
I began the day by learning on the Internet that the Peace Corps program in Mauritania was suspended. The number one priority of the Peace Corps is the safety of its Volunteers in whatever country it is working in. Recent events, including a suicide bomber in front of the French embassy, have gotten to the point where the PCVs are not considered to be safe now.
The current PCVs were evacuated to Senegal last week. When the news came about the evacuation being permanent, they were not even allowed to go back to their sites to say good-bye to their friends and host families.
I was with Cathy for her five-in-a-row English classes first thing this morning.
She came up with a fabulous idea for the kids in her foundation (grade 9) classes: having them make creatures out of clay. It was an activity that called for the creative energies within them, had them integrate the artistic with writing, and had them totally engaged at all times.
It was a joy to be part of. Cathy felt that it far surpassed her expectations.
In the afternoon I went with Jenn and Mona to Cape Town. It was their first time on the train.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
There was a strike today by drivers of taxis and buses. When this happens, many of the kids have a hard time getting to school. Some of the kids at Leap walked three hours this morning in order to get to school.
The strike is against the government, which is trying to organize and regulate the taxi industry, which has historically been very loosely run, and without any governmental controls. Since Cape Town will be one of the hosts of next year's big international soccer tournament, they are trying to clean things up so that the world sees a well-organized city.
The drivers apparently are happy the way things are going, and they are resisting any attempts to have any body oversee them. Without an effective and pervasive mass transit system, many of the people who live in the Cape Town area - and especially the poor blacks in the townships - are dependent upon the taxis to get to work.
I should add that "taxi" is a much more inclusive term than that which we are used to in Western cultures. Here, it also refers to minivans that run more or less fixed routes, similar to the way buses run.
Many of the teachers are stressed now. It is time for them to get what they call their "mark readings," which corresponds to what we know as grading periods. They have grades to tally up and hand in.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
I was fascinated to participate in the session that Leap School refers to as social responsibility, which compares well to what we call community service in the USA.
I accompanied the group that helped in a créche, which is what they call a daycare center. There were about eighty adorable little kids at the Nomzamo Educare Centre, located at the Rainbow Multi-Purpose Centre in the township of Guguletu. I was ready to take home three or four of them!
The Leap students helped the little ones to make masks out of paper plates. Some of the older kids (about 4 years old) were able to paint theirs, but the littler ones used crayon to scribble on theirs.
Friday, 14 August 2009
I went in the evening to a different synagogue than the one I had gone to during the last three weeks. Joy had found this one online via a friend connection, and called the rabbi to speak to him.
This one varied in several ways from the Gardens Shul: a small and unasuming house in a suburb, as opposed to the large and imposing building in the city. Another difference was immediately apparent, as the men and women were seated together.
The feeling was much more like the Reform synagogues with which I am familiar at home. The congregation is one of three under the same umbrella, with locations in three areas around the Cape. This is the smallest of the three.
After the service, the rabbi put us in contact with some people who gave us a ride home.
Saturday, 15 August 2009
The big day had finally come: the teacher training workshop for which we have been preparing since June.
My session, entitled Speaking and Writing, went extremely well. I served mostly as the coordinator and emcee, introducing the other presenters. Gene, a TWA Fellow, began by reading two poems: one that he, an American, had written, and the other by a South African writer.
By listening to the poems, the others had to determine which had been written by the American and which by the South African. In doing so, they were thinking about the theme of the day: finding one's voice.
The other sections of our workshop went as planned, and all the participants seemed to have a good time as well as receive material that they will be able to use in their classrooms.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
During the week, Pete, one of the Leap 2 teachers spoke to me in the staff room and, noting that my time here was coming to a close, asked me if there was anything that I had not seen or done but had still wanted to do.
As a matter of fact, there was: I have been trying in vain to get to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. All the tour companies in Cape Town were either too full for their day trips, too empty (as it is low season), or take two or three days to make the trip.
I asked Ashfaak, one of our frequent drivers who has a minivan that seats thirteen, if he could take us. He gave me a price and when I gave the details to my TWA colleagues, the idea fell flat. So when I told Pete that that was where I wanted to go, he told me that he had never been there himself and that he would be happy to make the drive, which is about two and a half hours in each direction.
It's hard to say what was so compelling to me about going there. I have already been to the westernmost point in Africa (in Senegal) and the northernmost (in Tunisia). Things are not looking good for getting to the easternmost (in Somalia) anytime soon. It's hard to know if and when I will ever come back to South Africa, so I wanted to go for it as long as I was this close.
It was a perfect day: warm, sunny, pleasant conversation with Pete all day, and fabulous scenery both en route and there. There are plenty of photos posted to my website, so be sure to check them out. (Go to http://www.jaydavidson.com/ and click on the Photos button.)
Monday, 17 August 2009
It is overcast and cloudy today. I am happy and fortunate that the weather waited one day to get like that, as yesterday was so brilliant in many ways.
There is a train strike now, which has had a negative impact on school attendance. The school is located adjacent to the tracks, so I have seen trains go by occasionally during the school day.
I got a call from Mohamed the tailor who is in downtown Cape Town. He wanted me to know that he had some items finished for me. Since the trains were running, albeit on an infrequent schedule, I decided that I'd better go down there and pick up what I could, as even this minimal service may not be available during the rest of the week.
The first difference I noticed at the Mutual train station was that the ticket window was closed. There was a sign announcing a Sunday schedule.
Once in Cape Town, there was no staff there to check for tickets. All the ticket booths at the main station were also closed. Whoever was running the trains was doing it for free. I am not sure what the thinking is behind this. Maybe it's along the lines that people need to get to work.
Once I had the items from Mohamed, I returned to the station and saw that there was a fairly big problem to solve: the notice board that always announces train departures was unlit. There was no way to find out the destinations of the trains on the various tracks. I asked around and found out where the trains were that were headed to Strand or Wellington, the two destinations I can use.
Since nobody was paying for their tickets, the first class trains were packed. I guess this was one of the few times that the people who usually sit in third class can find out what first class is like.
The difference between first and third class is this: in first class, the seats are padded and are arranged in pairs facing each other, perpendicular to the windows, with a center aisle; in third class the hard plastic seats are alongside the windows, which creates a large open area in the center of the train.
The first several trains were packed, so I walked to the end of the train where I saw several of the last cars had available seats. If people had walked back a little further, they would have been able to sit.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Jenn, one of our TWA Fellows, left today. She is a teacher and has to get back for the beginning of her school year. We had a nice send-off for her at lunchtime in the Leap 2 staff room.
It was a cold and rainy day, which is what the typical weather pattern is for this time of the year. Fortunately for us, that has not been the norm!
In the evening, a group of LEAPSAs (Leap School Alumni) came over to the lodge, which made the place even more crowded and noisy than usual.
As I retreated to my room, I realized that something I have been dealing with here, especially in the lodge, is that I am an introvert who is with a group of people comprised predominantly of extroverts.
The most succinct distinction I have heard is that extroverts get their energy by being with other people, whereas introverts get theirs from being alone.
I enjoy working and being with other people, but it has to be focused and meaningful, such as work. This means I can and do fully function in school during the day. When the work day is over, though, I am tired from all the interactions and I need quiet. When I am at home, this means being by myself and rarely even turning on music.
That is what happened this evening: an already noisy and crowded house got even noisier and more crowded. I spent the evening in my room and felt much more relaxed there than I would have been if I were with all the people downstairs - and I should add that all the people downstairs were speaking in particularly loud voices so that they could be heard over the loud music.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
The sun returned today, but it was on the cool side. In any event, I was fine outside with my long-sleeved shirt and sweatshirt, so it wasn't that cold.
Not much else to say for today, so I will just leave it at that.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
In the afternoon, I attended the weekly staff meeting with the teachers and principal of Leap 2. Part of the meeting was set up so that we could give mutual response to each other after our now almost completed two months here.
The Leap teachers highlighted the following as the strengths of TWA Fellows:
enthusiastic,have good teamwork within our group, collaborate well with Leap staff, have affection for and interest in children, are punctual, are spontaneous, are adjustable/flexible, reflect on our actions, are articulate, are committed, work hard, are willing to help and be part of the community, are sensitive, help Leap teachers to reflect on their own work, with the goal of self-improvement have helped Leap teachers to look at South Africa curriculum, with the result being that many S. A. teachers now realize that the country's curriculum is quite good, have a symbiotic relationship (with Leap) that has developed organically.
That's a lot of good stuff, I think!
As with any relationship, there is also room for growth. The following were listed as points for improvement:
What are you here for anyway? What were the goals? We were never sure. It's hard to know if you're achieving your goals if you don't know what they were in the first place.
There was a lot of confusion at the beginning of the program.
There were some observations done that didn't involve any feedback.
Some teachers are missing out because not all Leap teachers have TWA Fellows to work with. (There were not enough TWA Fellows to go around.)
There has not been enough evaluation – only this at the end; it could have been done in two-week intervals leading up to the end of the time together.
Suggestions, questions, other points to ponder:
Will the next group start off the same way or will there be a way to communicate information, so that there is not a sense of re-inventing the wheel next year?
We need liaison work during the intervals between TWA visits, to keep everyone connected.
TWA needs to look at roles that can take place in feeder schools.
Workshops need to be looked at in a different way for next year if you want involvement of feeder school teachers – possibly take them to the feeder schools for presentation.
Are TWA Fellows reflecting on their own experiences so they can see possibilities for changes when they return to their schools in the USA?
When will Leap teachers get to visit in American schools? How about a TWA that means “Teach With America”? Can there be an exchange teaching situation?
*****
In addition to that, it was also a Toastmasters day. I had lunch with Liz from the Cape Town club, which meets twice a month. She and I had socialized one Sunday, when she invited me to spend the afternoon with her. Since she works at Old Mutual, the insurance company located between the lodge and the school, it was easy to get away and do this at lunchtime.
I had to miss the last meeting because it was held on a Wednesday evening, the same night as the one when we have a meeting of our TWA Fellows at the lodge.
In any event, I have failed to achieve one of my goals here, and that was to get one of the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Programs started at Leap. I had hoped to get a local Toastmaster committed to the idea, but I simply have not had enough contact hours with them to be able to find such a person. Most of the clubs here meet once a month; some meet twice. At home, most clubs meet weekly, which is a schedule that would have enabled me to get to know people better and try to get something like this started.
In the evening I went to the Pinelands club, which is smaller than the Cape Town club. In any event, it was a pleasant meeting and I enjoyed seeing the membership again.
Friday, 21 August 2009
One of the hallmarks of the Leap Schools is that they hold a weekly assembly called community meeting, usually referred to as "community." Leap 1 and Leap 2 hold these separately. The "community" is totally student run. Each tutor class (which is something similar to what we would call a homeroom) takes turn running the community.
Today, it was the turn of the tenth grade class with whom I have been working, as it is Cathy's English class.
Components of the community can vary: poems, short speeches, themes, choir, dancing -all arranged by the students of the class that puts it together.
The theme for the meeting today was the equality of women. Something we have seen before at many of the communities has been gumboot dancing. During this dance, the performers wear large rubber boots. This type of dance has its history in the miners of South Africa - the men who have dug the riches from the nation's earth.
As such, the only gumboot dancers I have ever seen, before today, were males. But having made the statement of equality of men and women, four girls made their way to the area in front of the audience to perform their gumboot dance.
This would be hard to describe to somebody who has never seen it, but the dance has a lot of stomping, bending over to slap the boots, and occasional shouts, all of which is done in unison. It is quite vigorous and appears to take a lot of stamina to keep up with.
As their rhythmic feet stomped and they shouted, they mesmerized the audience. In addition, the women who work in the kitchen, which is adjacent to the canteen where this was taking place, could hear that there was something unusual going on. I have never seen them come over to observe any portion of a community, but this was something that attracted them.
When they were finished, they brought the house down. Everyone had been excited and energized by the performance.
Another feature of community is called "open time," which is an unstructured period during which any of the students or teachers can stand up to speak their mind. Talking can refer to anything that had happened during the community, a response to the weekly theme, or simply something that a person wants to have everyone hear.
I had never, until now, taken the opportunity to make any comments during open time, but the gumboot dancers had moved me to speak. I told the audience that during the week I had seen the girls walking around carrying the gumboots and I had told them that I had never seen girls do that dance - only boys. I had asked if girls do it to? I didn't know because I am a newcomer to their country.
I spoke of my belief that women who are strong are no less women, and men who are gentle and kind are no less men. I don't know if that had any effect on them, but they listened quietly as I spoke. This was to be the last community for us Leap 2 teachers, as we depart next week on Thursday.
*****
In the late afternoon I went to Cape Town so that I could attend services at the Gardens Shul. Once again, it would be my last time.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Leap School provides tutoring to its students on Saturday mornings, and we TWA Fellows are supposed to go and help. Rooms are designated as having focus on math, science, or completing homework.
Not being able to help with any math or science, I went to the homework room to see if anyone needed assistance with English or writing. The only kids who showed up came into the room to take chairs that were needed for another room.
The morning is structured into a study session, break, and then another study session. After the break, when still nobody turned up for help, I headed over to the Howard Centre to get a haircut.
This was my second haircut here. As with many things, the prices are much cheaper here than at home. At R116, including tip (about $15), I have gone to a nice salon at the shopping centre. At home, this would cost about triple or quadruple the price.
After that, I went to Cape Town for a few hours. When I arrived at the Mutual train station I saw that the ticket booth was closed. This could mean a number of things, such as the go-slow still going on or maybe even that the ticket window is just closed. If they are collecting tickets at the turnstiles in Cape Town, I wouldn't have one, so I would have to buy one before I am allowed to leave the station. This has never happened to me, but I have heard tell of it.
True enough, they were collecting tickets at the other end. When I bought mine, I asked for a round trip so that I would not have to wait in the long line later on. But they sold me only a one way ticket.
Upon my return, there was a line of about thirty people, and only one of the dozen or so ticket windows open. We slowly were making our way to buy tickets when suddenly that sole open window closed. Now what?
I looked to the turnstiles to see how it would be possible to enter the train platform area without a ticket, and I saw that they were not operating any longer, but the doors next to them were open, allowing free passage in both directions for people heading to and from the trains.
It's a funny way to run a business, if you ask me.
Sunday, 23 August 2009
I went into Cape Town to spend time with Barry from Austin. We met through NAPO, the National Association of Professional Organizers, in the USA. He is here for a local conference of the South Africa organizers, along with three others from the USA. It was good to see him and meet the others.
Monday, 24 August 2009
I taught a lesson to Cathy's tenth grade class today: the Shelley poem "Ozymandias."
There was, of course, the poem itself and the vocabulary. But something came up that was totally unrelated to the poem. I informed the class that I had learned the poem when I was in tenth grade myself, and fifteen years old, as they are.
I gave them what I thought was a simple math problem to work out: I am now 62 years old. If I was 15 when I learned this poem, what year was it when I studied it? I thought that it would be a simple matter to work this out, especially since this school has a focus on math.
Guesses started coming forth from the kids: 1947? 1957? 1961?
In the entire class of eighteen, one student was able to come up with the correct answer. I looked at her paper and there it all was, neatly written out. (This system will not allow me to write it all lined up the way I saw it on her paper, so I will have to explain what I saw.)
She had written 2009, subtracted 62 from it and gotten 1947. To that, she added 15 and got 1962.
After that class, when I was in the staff lounge, I explained the outcome to two of the Leap School math teachers and a TWA Fellow whose specialty is math. What I learned is that there is a greater emphasis on computational skills than on problem-solving. One of the local teachers, an American who has also taught in the USA, told me that he has been teaching problem-solving to his Foundation classes (the equivalent of what we call ninth grade). He suggested that I ask them the same question and let him know how they did.
In the afternoon, when we had the Foundation classes, I did just that. Sure enough, most of the kids not only came up with the correct answer, but did so in significantly less time than the tenth-graders in the morning.
One of the kids showed me how he had done it, and I found his approach to be most unusual. He started with 62, subtracted 15, and got 47. Then he subtracted the 47 from 2009 and got 1962.
In the process of talking with the teachers about this situation, I learned about a fascinating approach to the process of accepting new students into the Foundation classes. They call it TTT, which stands for test, teach, test.
What they do is give the kids a test. Then, after they collect it, they go over it with all the kids and teach the concepts that they need to know while taking the test. Then they give the test again. Part of the scoring for each kid involves comparing the results of the first and second tests, which gives them an indication of how well the kids can be taught.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The highlight of the day was the afternoon presentation given by Cathy's tenth-graders. They wanted to do something to say good-bye to me. They prepared a performance that saw them coming to the front of the room, one at a time, to explain the characters from a book that they had read earlier this year.
After the performance, there was a celebratory party. The class gave me a copy of the book that they had read and Cathy gave me a colorful bowl.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
I spent my final lessons with the three groups of students in Cathy's classes - the two Foundation (grade 9) classes and the one grade 10. At one point, we were talking about homonyms and words that are homophones. The kids started to suggest homophones that they know of. First up, one of the kids said, "Bed and bed - like he is a bed person and the bed that you sleep on." (Yes, these words are pronounced the same here!) Another kid chimed in by adding, "and the bed that flies in the sky," meaning, of course, "bird," which is pronounced the same by many people here!
My favorite, though, was these two sound-alike (to these kids) words: "bitch, the female dog, and the bitch where you go swimming."
There were plenty of opportunities for them to ask me questions. They wanted to know if my time here met my expectations, what I would be doing when I get home, if I am coming back, how South Africa and the USA were different, how I enjoyed my stay here, what I enjoyed the most, and if it would be possible to get a university scholarship to study in the USA.
Leap 2 usually holds its community meetings on Friday, but they had an extra one today so that they could say good-bye to those of us who had been working with them. The choir was particularly amazing today. There was also gumboot dancing and open time, when people got to speak individually in front of the audience.
I have been trying to think of the kinds of things that are so impressive to me concerning the choir. First of all, the melange of voices (two male and two female parts) produces a rich and varied sound. In another way, though, I love the way that the choir represents a microcosm of society, in that each person has her or his part and knows her or his place. Individually, the voices may be enjoyable, but it is the strength of everyone singing together that produces the harmony that I enjoy as much as I do. It's the idea that "together we are better."
During open time, many of the kids got up to mention particular teachers and what they have enjoyed about us. Luvo, one of my Foundation kids, managed to mention everyone, and concluded by saying, "Last, but not least, is Mr. Davidson. Every time I see him he is either smiling or singing."
If you saw all these smiling faces every day, you'd be smiling and singing, too.
After lunch, Pete took me for a ride to the campus of the University of Cape Town, which I had never seen, and which is his alma mater. It is a lovely campus with a magnificent setting on a hillside.
In the evening, there was another program at the school. This one was primarily for adults, but it featured the choirs and gumboot dancing by the kids from Leap 1. A main focus for the formal program was the interrelationships among Leap Schools, the Newlands Rotary Club, and TWA. Newlands is a local club and it has partnered with a Rotary Club in the San Francisco Bay Area to offer considerable financial support to Leap Schools.
Following the program, the kids went home and the adults, including the LEAPSAs, stayed for dinner. But before we had a chance to eat, there was a lengthy "open time" during which people had opportunities to express their feelings about each other and the impact that our time here has had.
Several of the Learning Centre tutors were in attendance and they had some lovely parting gifts for me: a batik cloth and a wooden statuette.
Several of the speakers mentioned how we TWA Fellows had changed their perceptions of Americans, whom they used to think were boastful, arrogant, and overconfident. But with genuine sharing of ourselves here, they now understand us to be different from that stereotype.
The front desk clerk confirmed this. I had already packed and brought my luggage to the lobby. Now I schlepped it back upstairs to the same room that I had just vacated.
The rumor was that tomorrow, Saturday, the flight would leave earlier than the previously scheduled time. There was no fax yet from Delta. We shall see.
How South Africa is different from other parts of Africa that I have seen
There are many white Africans. In addition to natives of South Africa, these include people who are from places such as Zimbabwe and Zambia. Whereas in other African countries, the white people are usually embassy workers, aid workers, or foreign volunteers, it boils down to the fact that in those other places they are expats. Here, they are Africans. They were born here and they live here for their lifetimes, rather than for a short period of time because of their temporary work.
There are large areas of paved roads, and the roads are in good condition. I have not seen areas with unpaved roads here or roads that are falling apart.
Entire neighborhoods are well-developed - not just the random building or block. Granted, these are mostly places where white people live.
Schools are in better condition. Most of the other schools I have seen in other countries have no windows or broken windows, and are pitifully fitted out.
There are functioning trains as part of the urban transport system and they run on a reliable schedule. In other places I have been, there are either taxis, minivans, or buses. In other places, there may be trains that carry people on longer hauls and they are frequently unreliable.
There is a visible, varied, and widespread Jewish population. In some places (like Cairo and Tunis), there may be one synagogue for the entire community, and it is not highly populated, as the Jewish communities are dwindling. Here, there are not only many Jews, but they run the gamut of affiliations, from Orthodox to the local equivalence of Reform.
English is more widespread. Most signage is in English. In some cases, there is bilingual signage (English with Afrikaans) and in some cases trilingual (with Xhosa). But overall, English predominates, from signage to grocery product labeling.
People are more scantily dressed than in other African countries. In other African countries, the rule seems to be that people fully cover their body contours, along the lines of Muslim modesty. Here, there are also Muslims, but the general population does not follow suit. You see people in shorts. There are also billboards advertising underwear, so you see scantily-clad models in public, which is a first for me in Africa.
People smile for photos here. In West Africa, you see mostly blank expressions, as they have never gotten the whole, "Say cheese" mindset.
There are pornography shops. I'm certainly not saying that this is a good thing. It's just that you simply don't see these in other places I have been, as opposed to the many "Adult World" shops here.
How South Africa is similar to other parts of Africa that I have seen
There are great disparities between wealth and poverty. The most noticeable aspect of it here is that it is along racial lines.
Many illnesses are related to poverty. These include tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS.
Concepts about time are fuzzy. People talk about "African time." There is nowhere near the slavish relationship to time that Westerners have.
People are used to being close together. They have different ideas than we do concerning the way they keep a physical distance from each other. They are used to having a lot of people around and being in close contact. One of the ways that this manifests is that when they bump into you - or you into them - they seem not even to notice, and one rarely ever hears another person acknowledge that by saying, "Excuse me" or, "Sorry."
The motorists have blatant and total disregard for pedestrians. Just watch out for them, because they will not stop for you if you are crossing the street. The motorist is king (or queen) of the road, and pity the pedestrian who attempts to get in the way.
Teach with Africa
Teach with Africa works in South Africa as part of the ongoing effort to upgrade the education system in post-apartheid South Africa. Its job is both tremendous and crucial. As Nelson Mandela recognized, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."
The middle word in the organization's name, though short and common, is an important one: the organization is in an ongoing partnership with the local schools, as opposed to being people who are imported for their expertise and then go home.
LEAP Schools
The barriers in modern-day South Africa are enormous and reach across economic and social lines. In 2004, John Gilmour, a white South African, took the initiative and started LEAP Science and Maths School. The emphasis on science and math (usually referred to as "maths" in British Commonwealth countries) was pointed: under apartheid, Black Africans were forbidden to study beyond basic arithmetic ability, for the fear that an educated population would be dangerous to the supremacy of the white government. You can find the schools on the Internet at http://www.leapschool.org.za/.
The LEAP Schools (there are now two in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg) double the class time in both science and math subjects taught during an extended learning day that begins at 7:00 AM and doesn't end until 5:00 PM.
The long day and double math and science coursework are features of the first focus that distinguishes LEAP Schools from all others in South Africa. English is an important focus, as many students come from families that do not speak English in the home. This cluster of academics is in place for the purpose of catching up the students to the national average.
Personal responsibility is the second focus that sets apart the LEAP Schools. It is taught through a series of sessions referred to as Life Orientation, or "L.O.," which is a melange of approaches that may be compared to both tough love and group therapy. L. O. is a response to the emotional and psychological needs of the students, many of whom have had brutal childhoods and come from situations in which it would be easy to place the blame for their current situation on others. Take, for one example, that almost one-third of the students are AIDS orphans. The LEAP Schools don't permit the students to get away with accusing others for their lot in life.
The third LEAP Schools focus takes personal responsibility and moves it into the community in the form of social responsibility. This program may be compared to service learning that has become popular in many American high schools in recent years. It differs, however, in that there is no accounting for a number of hours that has to be reached and thenafter the project is abandoned. Social responsibility charges each student with a weekly task in her/his own home neighborhood. The venues for these programs range from pre-schools to peer tutoring to working with people in parole programs.
Collectively, the Teach With Africa participants, of which there will be about twenty this summer, are called "educators" rather than "teachers." The purpose of this is to pay respect to the various aspects of education from which they come. Some, like me, are classroom teachers. Others include psychologists and, in a move that I believe is both innovative and laudable, there are graduate students enrolled in a Green MBA program. It is the grad students who will spearhead the efforts toward entrepreneurship training and support, which focuses on small business development, sustainability, and education on green issues. There is a wide variety of projects that fall under this umbrella, including small business workshops, manufacturing, student entrepreneurship, and support for both marketing and business planning.
My work
I had an interview of more than two hours with both the founder and the executive director of Teach with Africa. During our time together, we discussed my experience and interests. As a result, we came up with these possibilities for the focus of my work this July and August:
*English classroom teaching with LEAP faculty
*English tutoring
*teacher training workshops; one possible topic is Multiple Intelligences
*assembling a Cross Culture manual based on South Africa, with the dual purpose of giving students an opportunity to reflect on the aspects of their own culture and improving their writing in English
*using Toastmasters as a model to help improve students' public speaking skills
One of the aspects of my work about which I am most enthusiastic is that I am going to be a member of a team. Though my specific teaching projects may be highly individualized, I will be living communally with the other Teach with Africa Fellows.
This approach differs significantly from my previous work with the Peace Corps, where I was part of a large group, but we were all living independently from each other, and with the American Jewish World Service, where I was basically an independent contractor.
Teach with Africa has been reasonably successful in its fundraising and grant-writing efforts. As such, they will fund the airfare and housing of our group, as well as offering us a stipend that will cover much of our food and local transportation expenses.
How you can help
Teach with Africa is always grateful to receive donations to fund additional Fellows in order to enrich the lives of even more children whose lives have been devastated by the legacy of apartheid. Just click on the Contributions page on the Teach with Africa website, http://www.teachwithafrica.org/.
In order to encourage you to contribute, and to show my commitment to this program, I pledge to match any donations made by my family members and friends through the end of May (to a maximum personal contribution of $1,000) . So you have plenty of time to figure out your finances and see how you can help in this effort.
Monday, 29 June 2009
I had asked my downstairs neighbor, Jim, if he could drive me to BART so I could get my early (7:35 AM) flight. Jim is a habitual early riser, so I knew that I would not upset his sleep schedule if he drove me to the nearby station at 5:30 AM. He agreed.
When we went to his car, however, he informed me that he was driving me directly to the airport. That was wonderful to hear, as I had two large bags because I am going to be gone for two months and in a cold-weather climate, which demands lots of clothing. Hence, I needed lots of luggage space.
Most of us in the Teach with Africa group were leaving from San Francisco. Once we found each other at the airport, there was a high level of anticipation, excitement, and espirit de corps. It reminded me a little of the Peace Corps departure experience, in that I was embarking on this trip to Africa as part of a group.
There were three flights that comprised this epic twenty-four hour journey:
First, we flew for four hours to Atlanta. Once there, we had less than an hour to get to the international terminal for the second flight, which was to be eight hours to Dakar, Senegal. In Dakar, we waited for an hour and a half on the tarmac for the plane to be serviced, cleaned, receive its new crew, and have food loaded on for the final leg, which was yet another eight hours, this time to Cape Town.
I was mostly lucky with my seating. From San Francisco to Atlanta, I was in an aisle seat in an exit row, with lots of the extra legroom that I appreciate so much. I was not as lucky for the first three hours from Atlanta to Dakar, in that I was in a window seat on a plane that had zero empty seats.
At the end of those first three hours, I got up and spoke with Amy, the Executive Director of Teach with Africa. I told her that all was fine, except that I was in a window seat and would prefer the aisle. She replied, "Joy desperately wanted a window seat. She's on an aisle."
Excellent news for me! I spoke to Joy and then we switched seats.
While we were waiting in Dakar, I learned that Eugene, another member of our group, had been in an aisle seat in an exit row, but couldn't stay there. I then moved to his seat for that entire flight.
The better seating made the journey more tolerable, but, truth to tell, seventeen hours on the same plane could only have been improved by being in a horizontal first class seat.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
We arrived in Cape Town almost exactly twenty-four hours after the first plane departed from San Francisco. Once in Cape Town, the arrival formalities went smoothly, and were a bit lax. For example, the customs official who stamped my passport asked to see my proof of return ticket home. I looked through my papers and didn't have a copy of my itinerary.
That didn't faze him. "Make sure you have it with you next time," he advised. And then he let me proceed to the next area.
A small group of students from the Leap School, where we will be teaching, greeted us at the airport and sang for us. John Gilmour, the school's founder, and Toutsie, one of the teachers, were part of our welcoming committee and sang with the students. Sasho and Subina have uploaded the short video at http://greenmbainsouthafrica.blogspot.com/.
The weather is unseasonably warm. It was in the high seventies (F), but should typically be in the fifties. We will enjoy it while we can.
By the time we arrived at the Beulah Lodge, our home for the next two months, it was a little bit after 6:00 PM and already starting to get dark. Remember, it is winter here and just past the winter solstace. We will have limited, but slowly inreasing, daylight hours.
The lodge is beautiful in many ways, and well-appointed. The larger building houses a few of the guest rooms, but most of us are in a smaller building next door, where there are two lounges, a large kitchen, and all the remaining rooms.
I am in the only upstairs room, which is sort-of a double and sort-of a quad. Aaronthomas (also known as A. T.) and I have our beds on the left side of the landing; we have a door that can make it private. Amy, the TWA Executive Directory, informed me that for one month of our stay here, A. T. is going to be working at the new Leap School in Johannesburg, so I will then have this room to myself.
On the right side of the landing are Sasho and Dom's beds, as well as the bathroom that the four of us will share.
Though the lodge is clean and well-appointed, there are a few ideosyncracies that make it weird to negotiate: the light switches are in odd places, there is only one electrical outlet in each room, my room has no drawer space (but it does have a double closet, affording both A. T. and me with both hanging space and shelves). The only switch that turns on the bathroom light also illuminates the ceiling light in the part of the room where Dom and Sasho sleep; we solved that problem by unscrewing the overhead bulb, which means that they will have to light the room with their table lamp. Otherwise, if you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you would have to turn on their room light as well.
The kitchen is large and modern, with light IKEA-type cabinets and drawers. The counter space is black speckled granite, which adds to the handsome appearance of the room. The layout doesn't function well, in that the sink and refrigerator are in an alcove far from the stove.
Isak, the owner of the lodge, met with all of us and explained some of the lodge's operating procedures. When he informed us that there was wireless Internet access, Amy asked how many people had laptops with them. All the hands went up, except mine. Isak explained that there would also be a desktop computer available; I imagine I will be using that.
What I did bring, though, and I am happy to have with me, are my slippers and jersey lounge pants (like pajama bottoms) – very comfy.
Once our meeting was over, our dinner pizza delivery arrived. After we ate, everyone pulled out their laptops, and nobody was successful in connecting to the Internet.
I was desperate to get on the Internet, as I told my boyfriend Nick that I would try to call when I arrived, so that he would know I was there and safe. Nothing worked. Though Isak had mentioned the desktop computer, it was not there. Earlier in the evening, when I noticed that A. T. had a cellular phone with him, I had asked him if he got an international calling plan for this trip. He had said yes, and added that he also got e-mail capabilities included with his plan. I prevailed upon him to let me use his phone so I could e-mail Nick.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Most people were able to sleep a lot on the plane; I usually don't do that well, though I did nod off for a while on the second flight. I had gone to bed last night just before 9:00 PM. When I awoke this morning at 4:00, I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't. Rather than fight it, I headed downstairs to scout out the coffee situation. I found that I was not the only one up: Sasho was there, working on his laptop in one of the lounges.
I made coffee and continued reading the book that I had brought with me – What is the What by Dave Eggers.
Breakfast is provided, but not very nutritious: corn flakes, packaged bread, and the centerpiece is an item called a rusk. It's an elongated brick-shaped cookie. Yes, it's tasty, but we are going to have to make an improvement over having candy for breakfast. We started making a shopping list. Subina asked if we could get “more nutritious snacks,” so that will be one item we will be looking for.
Little by little, everyone started to work their way into the kitchen. Most people had slept poorly, and for not very long. At a little before 7:00, Matt came into the kitchen with his ipod and speakers. First song up was the Beatles singing “Here Comes the Sun,” but the sun was still nowhere in sight.
We had an amazing day. First we walked over to the campus of the Leap School, where John had three minibuses for us; several of the Leap students came along with us. During our time together I asked John about the meaning of the school's name. Sometimes I see it written as LEAP, indicating an acronym, and sometimes Leap. He told me that the first school was named for the area where it was located: Langa. It was the Langa Educational Assistance Program. But now there are two schools in other locations, including the new one in Johannesburg. So the title for all of them is now Leap, which is metaphoric for the work that the teachers are doing with the students.
Our destination was Table Mountain, smack dab in the middle of Cape Town. We took a cable car to the top and had a look around at the majestic surroundings. I took photos, but with this poor Internet connection I have no idea if there will be the bandwidth to upload them anytime soon.
We are going to be getting a stipend for our stay here, but don't have any local currency yet. While we were waiting for our turn on the cable car to ascend the mountain, I went to a snack stand to see if they would accept credit cards for any purchase. They did, so I bought some peanuts and raisins. Before I went there, I had put on my sunglasses, noticed they were smudged, and cleaned them up. When I returned to the group with the snacks, I realized I didn't have my sunglasses any longer. I must have left them at the snack bar counter. But when I went there, they were not there, and the employees said they had not seen them.
So I am not here yet for a full twenty-four hours and I have already lost something. Just as well. Nick says I should get sunglasses that are “more stylish.” Seems like he is going to get his wish: Nicholas ex machina, exerting his influence from across the Atlantic.
I can see that I am going to have to re-acclimatize myself to being with a group and to being in Africa, with things moving slowly and not having personal control over events. The people themselves are funloving, high-spirited, and totally delightful, and I have no complaints there at all, but I am going to have to get used to eating when everyone else is and doing what the group does.
Though it was pleasantly warm (mid-seventies again) at the base of the mountain, it was cool and windy on top of it. One of our activities was to break into small groups, each of which had at least one Leap student, and introduce ourselves. Most of these students had never been on Table Mountain. They are allowed to be there, of course, but they do not see it as theirs, which is a direct result of the apartheid era. They sang beautifully on top of the mountain. One of the reasons for this, John explained, was as a means of claiming it as their own.
John is a wealth of information and fascinating to listen to. As far as I can see, he has devoted his life to these students, and he has been getting amazing results.
By the time we left Table Mountain it was after 3:30 and we had not had any lunch. Since none of us had any money, John and Amy were going to cover that. But the restaurant on top of Table Mountain was too expensive, so we headed to Camps Bay, a beautiful beach area that also has been not only exclusive, but exclusively white.
We had our food on the beach, and there were lots of ambulatory salesmen. Most of them had carved animals and the like for sale, some beads, and there was one guy with sunglasses. One pair looked nice, but it had PRADA on the side of it. Yuck. Never. That's all he had: knock-off sunglasses with Nike, Adidas, Chanel, and all that crap prominently on them. He said the price was 200 rand, and immediately came down to 100. I asked some of the kids what the price should be (after he left) and they said 39. I see I am going to have to do some sort of negotiating here. (Right now the exchange rate is about eight rand to the dollar.)
Amy and John opted for a supermarket rather than a restaurant so that we could get something to eat. I volunteered to help with the shopping. While we were in there, Amy agreed that we may as well buy ingredients for dinner, so that we could do all the shopping in one trip. On the spot, I offered to make a vat of soup for dinner. We had left the shopping list at the lodge, so will have to go shopping again, but at least we could get the necessary ingredients for the time being.
The supermarket had a bakery department that had some fabulous whole grain rolls, so we bought out the remaining eleven of them. It's good to know that there is a better choice of bread. It's certainly more expensive than the packaged bread option, but much more nutritious, so it is worth the price. Amy told me that last year all the Fellows pooled their stipends in order to pay for the food, so we will most likely be doing that, too.
Once back at the lodge, we launched into cutting up the veggies for the soup. I had lots of offers of help from other Fellows. My favorite sous chef wasn't there, but I made do with the ones we had, and everything was chopped up and cooking in no time. We had a soup with a tomato paste base, lots of veggies, lentils, and a separate serving of brown rice to accompany it. Subina had also helped with the shopping and we agreed that brown rice was the better choice.
We also realized that we had neglected to purchase any wine for dinner. Horrors! We learned that the area in which we are staying is a dry county, so we will have to make some sort of accommodation for getting wine. I am going to look into having it delivered to the lodge daily. With eighteen of us now, and more on the way for various lengths of time, I imagine we could easily go through a case of wine a day.
Everyone enjoyed the soup. As part of our meeting after dinner, we agreed it would be more expeditious to eat dinner together, especially since we are in a residential area and don't have much access to restaurants. Mike volunteered to cook tomorrow night.
The evening proved to be difficult again for Internet connections, as people kept on being kicked off. I am typing this at 3:30 AM on Thursday. Having awakened at 2:00, I came downstairs to use the computer, and I am doing this as a Word Document that I will paste into the blog page when I can get to it. At the moment, the Internet is functioning fairly well. I was able to get onto Facebook for the first time since I left home.
And the best part is that I was able to connect via gmail talk to Nick – our first communication since I have arrived in South Africa. Wonderful!
I intend to go back to sleep once this is finished, and see if I can improve upon the four hours of sleep I have gotten so far.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Our plan for the day was to go to the Leap School for the morning and then go downtown later to take care of getting money and arranging for our cell phones. As one might expect, that is what partially happened.
We did, indeed, go to the Leap School. Right now, school is not in session, yet there were lots of students there. As one of the administrators explained to us, the school is a safe and welcoming place for these kids; it provides something useful for them to do, even when school is not in session. As for the teachers, all of them were not there, but there were several in attendance.
The morning began with a welcome from the school officials, as well as a few words from Amy, the TWA Executive Director. The Leap School Choir sang and danced for us. This is always amazing, and we love it.
Everyone from Leap School insisted to the students that we not be called visitors or guests. They are welcoming us into their community, so we are to be referred to as such, and nothing else.
John Gilmour, the founding director of the school, spoke movingly to all. In speaking directly to the students, he stressed that they are part of the change that is happening in South Africa. As he spoke of change, he advised that it is always easy to see the changes that other people have to make, but not the ones that we have to make ourselves. “If I can change where I am, I can begin to change the world around me.”
John is the most amazing man – motivated and dedicated in a rare and wonderful way. He reminded his students that in South Africa 70% of all children drop out of school before they graduate from high school. In addition, Leap School is the only black school in Africa with an alumni association. They embrace their students tightly, and there were several LeapSA (Leap School Alumni) among us this morning.
The principal of the Leap 2 School stressed to us that the most important word in Teach With Africa is the word “With,” in that it indicates we are all working together.
The rest of the morning, and well into the afternoon, was filled with more singing and dancing by various ensembles of the students. At one point, all of us were invited to get into the act, as they passed out drums, and one of the students instructed us in keeping the beat. My hands felt sore after a very short amount of time. I don't know how drummers can do their job without hurting their hands.
We had a short session of students and TWA Fellows in small groups. John evidently enjoys this dynamic, as we had done something similar yesterday. Our assignment was to talk about three things: (1) something about ourselves that we don't want other people to know, (2) what we are feeling right now – very specifically feeling rather than thinking, and (3) something we are looking forward to during our two-month association.
When we are in small groups, one of John's directions to us is usually to talk about our feelings concerning whatever issue he wants us to speak about. He is very directed towards getting people to talk from their hearts rather than from their heads.
After our small group sessions, the students took us around the facility to show us classrooms, computer labs, and the grounds. It is absolutely one of the cleanest, most modern, and best equipped schools I have seen in Africa. As we walked around the building, we saw many posters, photos, and quotations on the walls. One that struck me was this African proverb: “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.”
We had lunch at the school. John stressed a few things about the lunch. First of all, the building is shared with another program that assists local children. This is fully consistent with the Leap School philosphy: “We share what we have.” Secondly, there is no canteen that is hired to make the food. It was prepared by the grandmother of one of the people who works in the accounting office.
After lunch, we rode to the township of Langa, which is the source for many of the students who attend Leap. On the way there, John pointed out to us the disparity of the areas nearby. We were on a wide divided highway. To our right was the white suburb of Pinelands, where we are staying. To the left was the black township of Langa. I was taken by the use of words: the suburb is white and the township is black. The words “suburb” and “township” are not interchangeable.
One of the kids in our van told us that when the Leap students who live in Langa see the Leap van, they run away from it because they are afraid that when John tracks them down, he is going to ask them to tell him about their feelings. We all got a chuckle out of that.
Within Langa, there are visible divisions in the way people live. The residents who have resided there for several generations live in homes that are located on paved roads and appear to be well-maintained. By contrast, newer arrivals live in peripheral areas comprised of shacks located on dirt roads and lanes. The government has added an innovation: along the main highway, there are new and attractive homes. This is called a “gateway” area, so-called because it can be seen when foreigners arrive at the “gateway” into Cape Town as they pass by from the airport. This is being prepared especially to show off to visitors who will be coming in 2010 for an international soccer tournament.
In the evening, Sara arrived. The driver who picked her up also brought a case of wine, so we were able to have our first wine since we arrived.
A few people from the group volunteered to make dinner for everyone. This time it was spaghetti, meatballs, and salad. After dinner, we had a group meeting, which was the most highly-charged emotional experience yet. We processed what we had seen during the day, and Joy skillfully facilitated everyone's participation in the group.
There was lots of crying, which was the result of our shared feelings of a wide range of emotions, much of which was conflicting: hope and hopelessness, joy and sorrow, inclusion and exclusion. It had all come at us at once. Mona expressed that it was remarkable to her that, a scant forty-eight hours after our arrival we were as comfortable as we were with each other, allowing us to exhibit such a high level of trust with each other and express these deeply-held feelings.
Our emotion came from two events during the day:
(1) the acceptance and welcome that came to us from the entire Leap School community.
(2) the situation in Langa, during which many of us felt as if we were tourist/gawkers who were there to exploit the residents. John had addressed this issue to those of us in his van earlier in the day. He explained that at least 90% of white South Africans would never even consider setting foot in a black township, and that the residents know that. Therefore, as soon as the community members see us, they know with a high degree of certainty that we are not members of the group of people who have historically repressed them. As a result, they hold no rancor against us. And, of course, once they hear our American accents, the are totally willing to embrace us as visitors.
Yes, we had experienced this dynamic already. But that didn't make it any easier for us to deal with.
I was one of those crying folks. Part of what I had to say was that I don't understand the worldwide adulation that so many people have for performers, athletes, and other celebrities who, in my opinion, are out there only for their own personal glory and offering no worthwhile contribution to the various challenges that large groups of humanity face: hunger, poverty, miserable opportunities for decent education, and the need for clean drinking water. Meanwhile, people like John Gilmour, founder of the Leap Schools and our chief guide here, has already shown himself – to me, anyway – as a hero who deserves the accolades – not to mention decent funding – of millions of people all over the world.
I see this as a sad inequity. After the experiences of the day, I just broke down and cried in frustration over all of it.
Friday, 3 July 2009
I finally had a breakthrough night for sleep. Though I did awake at 4:00 AM and was up for about thirty minutes, I got back to sleep and didn't wake again until 7:30, at which time it was just starting to get light. During my awake time, I tried to get onto the Internet and failed.
The Internet situation is intolerable and frustrating – not only for me but for many of the Fellows, some of whom are away from home for the first time and would be tremendously comforted if, at least, they could maintain contact with their loved ones.
We were out the door at 8:45 this morning, heading to the Leap School for our vans. As much as I enjoy listening to John speak about his slant on life here, I felt that I should sit in the other vehicle today, thus enabling somebody else to benefit from listening to him.
Our driver was Ashvaak, second generation South African Indian Muslim who has his own stories to tell, and I sat right behind him to find out as much as possible about his take on life in Cape Town. He was excellent in pointing out the neighborhoods where different ethnic and racial groups live, as well as giving a perspective about them.
I am much more rested today and feel like I am not walking around as in a fog.
This morning we spent in a wooded area where the Crysalis Academy is located. This area was deeded to the Academy as a site for outdoor education to be offered to young people at risk. Our focus today was in the program called Realistic, which is a twenty-one day program for young men who need to be rehabilitated into their communities after being in prison for various offenses, as well as for abusing a wide degree of substances such as drugs and alcohol.
The three-week camp experience is a small portion of their four-month program, after which they are helped in getting training and jobs.
We were once again warmly welcomed. We did some chanting together, some movement, and some talking in small groups.. Our assignment in the small group was to talk about why we were there. When it was my turn, I had to cop to the fact that I am something of a control freak when it comes to the way I use my time: I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Being in a group is sometimes difficult for me because I have to cede control to the group and practice the art of patience, which is not always easy.
After our time there, we went to the Fish Hoek Beach area for lunch – once again, it was from the supermarket, which I find to be a fine way to satisfy everyone's hunger on short order.
From there, we were shuttled to the Victoria & Albert Waterfront, which turns out to be a complex of shopping malls that are not unlike just about anywhere else in the USA. For that matter, there are lots of Australian stores there as well.
Though I was less than thrilled to be at a shopping mall, I have to admit that I was able to accomplish my short list of necessities that would help me feel more comfortable: get stamps for letters and postcards, get new sunglasses, get my TWA-issued cell phone operational with a new SIM card and some credit, and get myself on the Internet. (The shopping mall is where I am as I write at this moment.)
As for the sunglasses, Nick had a request: have somebody under the age of thirty go with me to pick them out. There were two or three of them – as well as a few older folks – with me when I got them. They gave me their stamp of approval. We'll see what Nick has to say, though.
Another thing: right now, I am apart from the group. We splintered off on our own. I want to stress that there is not anyone in particular I needed to get away from, but I was feeling stifled and infantilized by not being able to get around on my own.
A van will take some people back to the lodge at 6:30, but there will also be the option to return at 8:30. This second option is the one most of us will take, which will allow us to have our first restaurant meal together here.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
We began the day more quietly than the others since we have arrived. This time, we didn't have to be out of the lodge right away. Even though I am a morning person, I so much prefer to ease into the day than to rush into it.
I was able to venture out on my own for a bit this morning. Amy told me where a liquor store was located, and that it was within easy walking distance. I went over there to see about ordering some wine for the group. I assembled two cases, paid for it, and arranged to have it delivered to the lodge. The employee said it would be sent out within two hours. When I got back to the lodge, Marti, the resident manager, said she would be there to receive it.
It was good to have handled that one little bit of business.
We had something to eat before we left, and then Leon, a local guide, met us with three vans to take us into downtown Cape Town. Our first stop was the District Six Museum, which commemorates one of the atrocities of the apartheid era.
District Six was an integrated Cape Town neighborhood. It was the one area where people of different ethnic, racial, and religious groups coexisted. The apartheid policies of the government not only bulldozed all buildings except for the houses of worship, but they dispersed all the families.
When the families were broken up, it was the government - not the families themselves - that decided which group the people belonged to. The race distinctions were Europeans, natives (blacks), Asians (chiefly Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese), and coloured (mixed races).
In the cases of husbands and wives who were of different races, the government relocated these individuals to different places and then made the situation worse by demanding that they have the proper papers to travel from one area to another, which was something that people were not able to get.
This was yet another time when I was struck by the inhumanity of the treatment here. (At the same time, I recognize that this is not the only place where people have been inhumane to each other, but it is right now the focus of my attention.)
From the District Six Museum, Leon led us to Company's Garden, a beautiful park in the center of town. We had some refreshments there, and then went in our smaller groups to see some of the local sights.
Something different here compared to home is that shops start to close by early or mid Saturday afternoon, and then stay closed on Sunday. By the time we got to the Pan African Market, it was closed. But the Women's Market was open, so we had a chance to see some of the artifacts there.
We headed back to the lodge for a short break before going out to dinner. When we got there, I tracked down Marti to find out where the two cases of wine had been delivered. They had not arrived. By that time, it was after 5:00 PM, so the shop was closed, and it was going to remain closed on Sunday, so there was no way to find out what had happened.
It's bad enough that the Internet is unreliable. Not to have wine is making this intolerable. In a way, I am not surprised at the mishap of the delivery. It's not the first time in Africa that I have been assured that something was going to be done, and it was not.
We prepared to go out to dinner in an area known as Observatory. Before we left, Amy arranged for some taxis to pick us up at the lodge. She is using her cell phone from home, so asked if anyone had a local number so that the cab company could call back. I gave her my phone to use. (This seemingly insignificant bit of information will come into play later on.)
We scouted the restaurants on the street, and some of us, noticing that there was a Mexican restaurant, were ready to go there for dinner. We did check out some other ones, though. A group of six of us did end up at Pancho's, the Mexican place.
It turned into a late night for me. By the time we finished eating, it was well after 10:30, by which time I am usually in bed. Having been awake since 7:00, and then dealing with the noise in the restaurant, which was coming from the boisterous group next to our table, I couldn't even hear people who were speaking right next to me at my own table. I was ready to get outta there!
When the other five people in my group decided that they wanted to go out for another drink, I knew I could simply not last. I needed to be horizontal and in a quiet place. I took a taxi home by myself.
When I was preparing for bed and emptying my pockets, I realized that I did not have my phone. Oh - probably it was on the table next to where Amy had used it. I went downstairs to see if it was there, and it was not. I left a note for Amy on the door of her part of the lodge.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
I was up during the time that a small group was preparing to go to one of the township churches, but I was not going with them.
When I saw Amy, she told me she had received my note, but she had no idea where my phone was. We used another phone to call mine. The call went straight to voice mail.
As I write now, 10:44 AM, some people are at church, some are preparing to go hiking, and some are staying here. There is an option to get a taxi pick-up to join folks for a musical experience at 2:00 PM, and that is the one that I am taking, so that I have a few hours to relax and catch up with this blog and posting photos.
I spent an enjoyable morning in the lodge, uploading my photos and catching up with e-mail and blog. Wouter (pronounced “voter”) came by to do some tweaking to the wireless system, which has not been working well for us. By the time we left, he said that all was adjusted. In fact, it seemed to be working well while we were there.
I didn't even go outside until Ashvaak came to pick us up to go to one of the townships. When we arranged for this event, the story was that we were going to hear music. On the way there, Ashvaak explained that today was “comedy day” and that we would be treated to comedians from several different countries.
One of the TWA Fellows said, “Don't eat before we go. There is going to be food there.” I asked what kind of food it would be. He replied, “Barbequed meat.” I ate something before we left.
We picked up a few of the Leap students en route, and then appeared at a restaurant called Mzoli's Meat. The system is that you go into the shop, choose your meat, and then they grill it up and bring it out to your table.
The place was packed: lots of long tables under a canopy with three open sides, adjacent to the building. People were spilling out into the streets. It was a mob scene. Smoking (cigarettes) seemed to be a requirement for attendance. There was no music being played by the restaurant, but that surfeit was made up by the blasting of car radios crowded outside. Every third car had its own beat – somebody called it “house music” and described it as being more of a beat than music itself – and, you may not believe this, but no two cars were playing the same music. The result was the very definition of cacaphony.
We had reserved a table, which was waiting for us when we arrived. The problem was that there were no chairs around the table. Note to self: next time, be more specific about your needs.
We finally had some chairs brought over to our table, but there were more people than chairs. For two hours, mostly what we did was sit around the table or walk nearby in small groups. The restaurant didn't serve alcohol, but several houses nearby were filling that gap by selling it from their front doors.
When the meat came, there was a huge bowl of it, accompanied by one small plate of salad and one plate of a grain that had been soaked in water, boiled, and looked like mashed potatoes. That one small plate of salad got passed around; by the time it got to me, it was empty. All the omnivores had polished off what was essentially the only food I would be able to eat.
The same thing happened the other night: the small percentage of vegetarian pizzas was finished long before the meat-laden ones. I have seen the same dynamic take place in Chinese restaurants, where a few veggie dishes are ordered among the meat ones and are systematically polished off first.
The comedic entertainment never materialized during the time we were there. Ashvaak picked us up about a half-hour after the arranged time, and then took us back to the lodge.
Once back at the lodge, the hiking group and those who had stayed behind were there, with everyone on her or his laptop. E-mail was slow to load and Skype was impossible to use.
I'm feeling a lot of frustration in not being able to speak to Nick even once since I have arrived here. The time difference of six hours from here to the East Coast makes it such that the early afternoon is the beginning of the time that I can reach him. We have always been out during that time, and during the coming weeks we will be working at Leap, so that time is out. Then, when we are available for free time, everyone is here and wanting to use the Internet at the same time.
Many are frustrated by this.
We had a meeting and talked about this, among other issues. Jen is preparing a sign-up list for us, so that we can be sure that only one person is on Skype at a time. As Mike explained it, Skype sucks up lots of power and bandwidth, so we have to be prudent with the way we use it.
Since our location is isolated, there is no other option available, such as a neighborhood cyber cafe.
Monday, 6 July 2009
The big agenda item for the day was welcoming the students from Leap 3 to Cape Town. There are two Leap Schools in Cape Town (Leap 1 and Leap 2, oddly enough), with the third and newest one in Johannesburg. Sixty of the Joburg students and their teachers took the eighteen-hour bus ride to come for a vist. It was the first time that all of these students were together as one Leap School student body.
Though they were supposed to arrive by 8:30 AM, we got word when we arrived that there had been an accident on the highway (not involving their bus) and that all traffic had been stopped for an undetermined length of time.
With the group arrival delayed, we had an opportunity to meet with John Gilmour. One of the topics of conversation in the morning was the differences among three styles of leadership that South Africa is facing right now. These have been labeled as walk apart, walk behind, and walk together.
In the walk apart model, the state is corrupt and ineffective. The citizenry distrusts the leadership and looks out for protecting their own interests. It's the most commonly used dynamic in Africa.
In the walk behind model, the state directs the citizens and the people become dependent and compliant. The main flaw in this system is that the people see the government as the sole responsible entity, thus giving up their own power to it.
The walk together scenario is the one that, not surprisingly, John supports, not only for the country as a whole, but for Leap School as well. In this relationship, the state and the people collaborate. This is what John looks for in his students as well as the staff. All the while, he recognizes that this is a difficult road to take, in that it requires a significant amount of talking among the various interest groups involved.
Our meeting adjourned when we got word that the bus from Joburg was approaching. The students had a joyous meeting, as did the teachers. Once again, we were able to enjoy the most amazing choral sounds, dancing, and drumming. Tuksie, the principal of Leap 1 introduced the program. From there on, it was entirely student-led. After the performances, one of the students opened a sharing session during which anyone who wanted to speak could come in front of the crowd to express her/himself. There were many expressions of welcome from the Cape Town residents, as well as those of gratitude from the Joburg students.
John didn't speak until the end. After we had lunch, we reconvened so that we could take care of some more logistics. John pointed out to us, in explaining his approach toward leadership, that he would have preferred the assembly we saw to have been a “tidy forty minutes” instead of the seventy-five minutes that it took. At the same time, he recognized and pointed out to us that the entire program had significantly more value to the students because they had planned and executed it themselves, with no adult intervention. John really does walk his talk, and he also acknowledges that it is not the easiest way to operate.
Following that meeting, we TWA Fellows were able to get together to plan our teaching sessions for the coming week. I have a two-hour session that will take place on Saturday morning. I headed directly to the computer lab to see about printing out the papers that I needed to use for planning this lesson with Annie and Sara.
Internet access in the lab was a little slow, but it worked, for which I was grateful. The printer needed some adjustments, too, but I was able to accomplish the task at hand.
On the way back to the lodge, I stopped at the shopping mall to see about getting a replacement cell phone. Though I got to the store at 5:05 PM, it was already closed for the day!
On the brighter side, I saw that the wine had been delivered to the kitchen of the lodge, so that was very good news indeed. People seemed happy to be able to have some wine with and after dinner.
The Internet was working during the evening, and I was able to have a Gmail chat with Nick, which was not only nice in an of itself, but grounding for me.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
When I arrived downstairs shortly after 6:00 AM, there were a few other Fellows milling about, drinking and making coffee. It's like living in a group home here. We are still getting used to each other, after having completed our first week. Sometimes, people do some individual cooking, but it is mostly done in large servings. For example, when I took out a frying pan and some eggs to prepare for breakfast, somebody standing there asked, “Can I get in on those?” and immediately after that, another person in the kitchen wanted some, too. Before I knew it we were cooking for three.
Once again, the Internet is not working this morning. Mike, quite the computer expert, could make a minimal diagnosis, but did not have the means to repair it.
We had to be at the school by 8:30 for a rigorous day of sightseeing. Because most of the students and teachers from Joburg had never been to Cape Town, this was the opportunity to be sure that they were able to experience two of the local wonders: Robben Island and Lion's Head Mountain.
We rode around in two buses: the one that came from Joburg and a local one. We made our way back to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront (locally referred to simply as “the Waterfront”) so that we could embark upon our boat to Robben Island, location of the jail where Nelson Mandela spent many of his twenty-seven years as a political prisoner who worked tiredlessly in the struggle against apartheid and unjust treatment on the part of the South African government.
Upon our arrival at the dock at 9:50, we learned that the next departure was going to be at 11:00. With plenty of time on our hands, I approached Amy and asked if it would be all right for me to go to the shopping mall near by so that I could take care of my cell phone business, which would involve purchasing a new phone as well as well as arranging for the phone number and available credit to be transferred over to the new one.
Amy said that that was fine, and I was off and running.
Because cell phone theft and loss is such a problem here, there are two things that the owner has to do when asking Vodacom to transfer this information: (1) show the original documentation in the form of the card that came with the original SIM card (which has the SIM card number, phone number, and several other bits of information that only the owner would have) and (2) tell Vodacom five phone numbers dialed during the previous three months.
The first of these was easy to accomplish, as I had the card in my wallet. As for the second, I explained to the representative that I had had the phone for less than a day and had made only two phone calls on it. “I'm sorry, sir, but we must have five,” she explained politely.
The store made a copy of my passport identification and the original card of information to fax to Vodacom's central office, and that is supposed to prove who I am and help speed up the authentification process.
I made it back to the ferry dock in plenty of time to board for the trip to Robben Island. More local students than anticipated had turned up to join us, which meant that there were not enough tickets to go around.
Our guide explained that “robben” is Dutch for “seal” and that there is evidence that Vasco da Gama and his crew were there as early as 1498. The island is much larger than I thought it would be and has many buildings spread out over its flat terrain.
Everyone walked the short distance from the pier and boarded buses so that we could be taken around the island. Our tour guide was excellent in her explanations of various buildings that we saw, such as the Anglican church, monument built to honor the cheikh who brought Islam to South Africa, the school for children of the prison guards, post office, and the like.
I sometimes get a little confused with the local accent. As in many places, the combination of the local vocabulary and the accent conspire to make certain statements unintelligible. For example, our guide referred several times to what sounded like “the waters of the island.” I finally came to understand that she was not talking about the waters that surrounded the island but the “warders” - the prison guards – who worked there.
We were finally allowed to get off the bus so that we could be shown around one of the jail buildings. At that point, our guide was one of the men who had spent ten years on the island as a political prisoner. We saw the main jail building, which included Nelson Mandela's cell. It was the only cell that was furnished, in that it had a bedroll and a few items in it.
The buildings have obviously been painted and restored in order to be presentable and appealing to tourists. I doubt very much that they looked this fresh and clean when the Island was in full operation for its intended purpose.
We caught the 2:00 ferry to return to the mainland. We were already behind schedule, as Jamiel, the organizer of the day, had indicated a 9:30 departure to Robben Island and a 1:00 return. The original plan was to have a bag lunch at the buses and then go to Lion Head's Mountain to begin our ascent at 2:00. Then we were to leave Lion's Head at 4:00 to return to Leap School and the townships so that the students (called “learners” here) could go home.
Upon distributing the lunches, two little bits of information came to light: (1) food for vegetarians was an afterthought; while everyone else got a sandwich and a more or less complete meal, we got to rummage through a box that included a few bananas, apples, and a plastin bin of cookies. (2) There was not enough food for everyone. School is not officially in session, so it was not easy to know how many of the local students would be joining us. Jamiel had underestimated.
Amy, the TWA Executive Director, and our leader for these nine days (until she goes home tomorrow), once again jumped in to save the day. That seems to be her specialty, and she is certainly good at not only knowing how to solve problems, but then coming up with an on-the-spot solution.
Amy and a few others headed into the mall to buy food for the ten or so people who had not had any. The buses left for Lion's Head while Jamiel stayed behind so that he could transport the shoppers to meet the buses from the point where we were going to make the ascent.
This strategy worked out just fine, in that they managed to arrive at the buses' parking place when we were descending from them!
John Gilmour and his family were waiting for us. By the time we started to climb the mountain, it was closing in on 4:00. I asked John how long it would take to make the climb. He said it would be an hour and forty-five minutes up, and then forty-five minutes down, at best.
In doing the calculation in my head, I then replied that it would probably be dark when we got back. John, correcting my “probably,” said, “It will be dark.”
Armed with this knowledge, I thought that I had better run back to the bus to get my sweatshirt, jacket, scarf, gloves, and hat, since it would be getting quite cold.
The group, being mostly young people, led a vigorous pace up the mountain. I was finding that I could do the climb, even with the steepness of the trail, but the pace was too fast for me. After about half an hour, the flat path was replaced by stops that had been cut into the trail, and on which all the treads were quite rocky. In projecting ahead to a descent in the dark, with no lighting to show our way, I saw that it would be very easy for me to lose my footing on the way down, and then trip on the rocky path.
It was then that I decided that I would not try to make it all the way to the top. I dawdled for a while to take in the beauty of the view overlooking the Indian Ocean. When I passed Dom on his way up, he told me that Jen and Mona had found a bench and were down there with one of the students who had been having trouble breathing because she has asthma.
Jen, Mona, and I waited around and in the bus until everyone started to return from the top of the mountain. The first ones arrived at 5:45 and they continued to come down until after 7:00. We left at 7:15, a full three hours after the scheduled departure.
I fully recognize that we have to be flexible with our schedule. At the same time, when a timeframe is announced, people make plans accordingly. For example, our bus driver, Dicky, has a daughter who was going to Rome for work the next day. His family had planned a farewell dinner for her, and he was several hours late to attend this.
Why even go through the pretense of writing a schedule if you are not going to adhere to it? But this is Africa. I have heard it said that Africa teaches patience. My admittedly harsher version of that is this: Africa beats patience into you!
We got home to find that the Internet was working once again. After an hour or so, however, it was gone. It's as if there is an allotment of hours, minutes, or bandwith, and once that is reached, the whole system is used up for the time being.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
We didn't have to be at the school today until 10:30, which was a blessing. I slept nine hours last night!
First thing in the morning, I tried to see if my cell phone situation had been sorted out. I thought I had jumped through all the hoops, but unfortunately found out that I had not. I told the customer service representative that the Vodacom store had faxed the necessary form to their company yesterday. In response, the rep told me that he needed to know the fax number from which the fax had originated. They never told me that I would need that information; otherwise I would have captured it at the store.
I told him I did not know that number. He then went on to tell me that he wanted to explain to me why he needed that number. I told him he could tell me why he needed that number, but that wasn't going to help me to get it. He then went on to tell me anyway, just so that I could explain to him that I still didn't have it.
In the end, it didn't matter whether I had that fax number or not because he then threw in two new requirements for setting this straight: (1) a copy of a police report on which I had listed the phone lost or stolen and (2) a fax from a Vodacom office of the new documentation of my new SIM card.
Now I am back to square one, essentially, in that I have these two tasks to accomplish, but am working all day, or am with the group, and there is no time during business hours when I can do this.
Upon our arrival at the school there was nothing to do. We waited around a while and then Joy, our leader, told us that we could go to the computer room to check our e-mail.
I no sooner got online and was reading an e-mail from Nick that Subina come into the lab to tell me that we were going to meet. I had to get off the computer and go downstairs.
Our destination was Kolkfontein, which is one of the communities in which several of the Leap Students live. Joyce, an extremely active resident of Kolkfontein, has founded a sewing cooperative, a cinder block-building initiative, a soup kitchen, and an elementary school for the community.
The sewing cooperative is willing to work with projects that could help the local economy. Having known this in advance before I even came to South Africa, I brought a few sample items with me – wine bags and an apron – as well as some personal sewing that I needed to be done. After she gave the group an explanation of the program, Johanna, the woman in charge of the cooperative, took them and started the production going. They are working on a big project right now, but will have some samples for me in about two weeks.
I asked Johanna what the women typically earn in a day. She said she tries to be sure that they get R100 (about $12.50) for a day's work. This little bit of information will be helpful in figuring out what to pay them for the work that they do for us.
On the way back to Leap School from Kolkfontain, we stopped at Pick 'n Pay, a local large supermarket chain. We were able to pick up something to eat for lunch, as well as staples for the next few days. It is easy to drop $200 at a time for this group of twenty people.
We arrived at Leap School just in time for the beginning of the program for which the students of Leap 1, 2, and 3 have been rehearsing during the last few days. There was dancing, poetry readings, and choral singing in all possible combinations, including girls only, boys only, mixed chorus, and the LEAPSA (alumni) students. The program went on for more than two hours! It's hard to get these kids to stop once they have started performing.
I find the choral singing to be most extraordinary, what with the blending of voices and the multi-part harmonies going on. Frequently the choirs incorporate simple movement with the singing, which makes for visual enjoyment. Since the LEAPSA Choir is comprised of two dozen or so people who are a few years older than the current high school students, their blend of sound is more robust and mature, which was quite noticeable to me once I heard them sing.
The final song, in which the entire congregation partook, was the Leap School song. I have never heard a group of high school students sing their alma mater with this kind of fervor, reverence, and joy. It is clear to me that these young people are singularly aware of the transformation that their Leap School experience has had in their lives, and they are grateful for it.
After the assembly program, the teachers had LEAPSA students had a reception in one of the classrooms, while the high school students were in the larger area. While we were in there, I saw a few white faces I had not previously seen. They turned out to be some British people who are currently working in Cape Town for a short time, who were on Lion's Head Mountain the previous day and whom John had invited to attend the proceedings of the day.
That's John: always including people and networking for the good of all.
Meanwhile, back at the lodge, when we unpacked the groceries we realized that there was a bag missing. Gone were the ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies as well as the soy milk.
We had dinner, got online (for the short amount of time that it lasted), and drank wine. The two cases of wine that were delivered on Monday are now consumed. People laughed when I said I thought we could use a case a day, but it has turned out to be that, which is not so much of a surprise, since there are about twenty of us.
Our evening meeting concluded with a good-bye presentation from the group to Amy, who returns to San Francisco tomorrow. We all participated in the creation and signing of a large paper that included an oath from us to Amy as to what we promised to do in her absence, such as never crossing the street alone and being sure to do things safely. It was both humorous and heartfelt, showing our deep appreciation for her inspiring leadership, not only of our time together, but all the care that she has put into the Teach With Africa program for the months and weeks leading up to our departure.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
I was up shortly after 6:00 AM, had coffee and breakfast, and then headed out of the lodge by 8:00 so that I could deal with getting the necessary police report for my lost or stolen cell phone, ordering more wine, and arranging to have the necessary documents faxed to Vodacom, my phone provider.
All went extremely smoothly:
The procedure for getting police report was quick and easy. The liquor store was open earlier than the posted hours. Furthermore, the manager was there this time and he waived the delivery charge for our order, which constituted forty bottles that are supposed to last us through the weekend.
At Leap School, the LEAPSA students presented a class about their culture, which was enlightening for all of us, and quite interactive, in that we were able to ask lots of questions, many of which centered about marriages and family relationships.
This was especially good for me to see, since I will be teaching a class about American/Western culture on Saturday morning.
In the afternoon, I went to a session about choral singing, which we did in Xhosa. The lesson was instructive in many ways. First of all, when the LEAPSAs gave us instructions about the lyrics we were supposed to sing, they never wrote them down. All of us Americans wanted to see the words written. I asked to find out if this is ever done, and they told us that they are always told to the choir, never written.
The people teaching us used the terminology associated with Western choral musical parts: soprano, alto, tenor, bass. We had an enjoyable time learning the Xhosa words and then singing the words.
In the evening at the lodge, Karly, Matt, and Beth led the kitchen crew in preparing a Mexican meal for us, which was fabulous.
Friday, 10 July 2009
The morning session for LEAPSA students was planned to help them with study skills. Joy and Jenn did an admirable job getting their points across, with great notes on the board and clear directions.
Three was a yoga session after that, run by Emily, but I skipped out on that in favor of checking in on Vodacom to see why my credit and phone number have not yet rolled onto the new SIM card.
To date, I have done everything they asked me to do, and after each step being the last thing that needed to be done, I was to wait twenty-four hours for the information – both the old phone number and the R270 (about $35) to transfer onto the new card.
Now that all has been done, there is, of course, a new step that nobody ever told me about before. Can you believe it? It turns out that because the new replacement SIM card has been activated, it is not an acceptable one to use for the SIM card swap. This meant I had to purchase yet another card, my third one, and go through some more paperwork.
The Vodacom shop at the center near the lodge is closed on Saturday, so I had to do this today and, in so doing, missed the afternoon classes. When I got to the shop, I found out that they do not sell SIM cards. The nearest other shop is in another (larger) center, the Howard Centre, nearby. So I took a walk over there, where I bought the card, filled out yet another two forms, and was told not to put the card into the phone until tomorrow. Then it should all work. Inshallah!
By the time all of this was taken care of it was 4:00 PM. Meanwhile, back at the school, everyone would be starting the communal effort to prepare dinner. One of the other Fellows had just come back to the lodge because she was not feeling well. She was going to have something to eat and then go to bed.
The temptation not to go back to the school and to stay at the quiet lodge by myself was simply too great to pass up. Since I didn't have any credit on my phone to make the call, I went to the lodge office and asked to use their phone so I could call Joy and let her know that I would stay at the lodge for dinner, thus not joining the group.
I did feel a bit sheepish about doing so because the main meal that they were preparing was a type of local soup that contained meat, and I had asked the LEAPSA student in charge if she could help to cook a version of it that had no meat; she had said yes. It wouldn't go to waste, though, as there are a few other people who observe some version of vegetarianism, so they would eat it.
During our orientation session with Teach With Africa, we talked about concerns that we anticipated having here. One that I brought up – and which several other Fellows echoed – was having a shortage of privacy and alone time. It's a delicate balance that I am working on, in that I fully recognize the need to be a functioning member of the group, yet I can't be one if I don't have the energy and strength that, for me, comes from being by myself for a while.
I did, indeed, need that energy and strenth for the following morning, as I was going to be teaching a class with one of the other Fellows. Our frenetic schedule had conspired in such a way as to come in the way of our joint preparation for the class. On more than one occasion we talked about meeting in order to prepare the class, but we had never had more than just a few moments to exchange ideas with each other. Early on in the week, I had made sure to have enough time at the computer so I could print out the information that I needed for the class, so that was ready. But the planning session was still something we had not taken care of.
I have heard one of the differences between an introvert and an extrovert explained as this: an introvert is energized by being by himself and an extrovert is energized by being with other people. Using this definition, I am most assuredly an introvert. Many people are surprised to hear me say this. Anything about me that looks otherwise is because of the many years of practice that I have had, both in the classroom and in my personal life, to force myself to be more fully functioning with others.
In any event, I did enjoy my peaceful evening at home, which afforded me enough time to go over our material and plan the framework of the class we would teach tomorrow. I was awake when everyone came back to the lodge, which was after 10:00 PM. I touched base with Sara, my co-teacher for the class; I told her that I had pretty much put everything together for the class, but that it would be a good idea to go over it the following morning. We agreed to get together at 8:00 to look at what I had done so that we would both be familiar with the material.
I went to bed feeling more relaxed about the situation and knowing that I would be prepared both personally and professionally for the next day.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Sara, Joy, and I got to the school on the early side to prepare for our classes. Joy was going to teach the second of two classes in study skills, whereas Sara and I were going to teach a session titled Introduction to American Culture and Values.
The class was originally scheduled for 9:00, but because of the lateness of Friday evening, it had been moved to 10:00. At 10:15, though, with only two or three LEAPSAs on hand, we had to face the reality that there may not be enough of a group onhand to spread out over two separate sessions.
People started to dribble in. As I waited, I tried to use my phone and saw that it did not accept the new SIM card. I made my way to the reception desk and had one of the kids help me to call the store where I had purchased it the day before. The employee was very helpful and told me that she would investigate the situation, but that she saw on her computer that there was no problem with my number, despite the fact that my phone screen was showing that the card was not valid.
Eventually, Joy decided to postpone her session to another time. By the time a critical mass of students had arrived, it was 11:00 AM, so that is when we got started.
(Note: this blog is serving not only as my personal diary that I am sharing with family and friends, but also as the work report that our Teach With Africa administrators need to read so that they can be fully updated on how our progress here. For that reason, I am going to go into as great detail as possible in explaining this session so that the folks at home can know how it went.)
My co-teacher was Sara, who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin during the same time that I was serving in Mauritania. We had two objectives in this Introduction to American Values and Culture:
1. To begin a discussion about American values, with the understanding that the USA is a large country that has a diversity of class, economic status, race, geography, religion, ethnicities, education level, and sexual orientation.
2. To use talking points as a means of discussion between South Africans and Americans, thus enhancing mutual understanding and respect.
I additionally laid some groundwork by explaining that we wanted to steer our observations of each other along the lines of differences that we saw, and not being judgmental about them. For example, not these difference between these two observations on the part of an American: (1) In England they drive on the wrong side of the road. (2) In England they drive on the opposite side of the road.
Sara and I wanted the session to be as informal and organic as possible. We began by involving the students in asking them what impressions they had about Americans, based on their viewing of American television, movies, and any in-person experiences that they had already had. We wanted them to focus on what questions they had about American values, especially in ways that they differed from their own.
We wrote their responses and questions on the board. (I am working here from photos that I took of the contents of the board at the end of the session, so this is an accurate account of what was there. I am also adding some explanations to some points, in parentheses after them, to explain a little of what was said when it was added to the board.)
01. American students are very casual and concerned with being “cool.”
02. Prostitution as a career (One of the students had seen an American talk show on which a father-and-daughter couple had appeared. The daughter was a prostitute and the father helped her with her makeup and clothing choices. The student wanted to know if this sort of parental support for prostitution was a widespread sentiment.)
03. Busy city life
04. Lack of spanking of children by parents, and the meaning of “Go to your room.”
05. Swearing
06. Law suits and television judge shows – Judge Judy, and everyone is suing everyone.
07. How does the transportation work?
08. HIV/AIDS in the US
09. Geneology, “roots” and its importance to Americans
10. Sports
11. Drag queens
12. The American Dream – what is that?
13. Greetings – greeting style is different than here – some Americans here give a “fake smile”
14. Glamor
15. Do we have vigilante justice?
16. Do we have segregated neighborhoods in the USA like they have in South Africa?
17. American arrogance
18. Interracial dating
19. Is everyone comfortable with Obama as president of the USA?
20. The process of becoming a citizen
The above could be the basis for entire lecture series or course, let alone a solitary two-hour session. With ten TWA Fellows onhand, many of us spoke our minds concerning individual points on the list. We emphasized that there was not always a single answer that spoke for all Americans and that, as we had stated in the first objective for the class, that there was a huge diversity that was based on many factors.
That being said, here were some of the main discussions that we had:
The differences among city, suburban, and rural life: cities have a great diversity of races and social classes. People in cities are much more accustomed to dealing with a variety of people, whereas those in smaller towns may have more provincial views. The students understand this because they find the same dynamic at work here in South Africa.
Cost of living in the USA: It is significantly higher than here. When we explained the income that we thought was considered to be poverty level (those Fellows present reckoned it was something like $14,000) and did the conversion to South African rand, the South African students considered that sum to be a lot of money and they couldn't understand how we could think it was poverty. We went on to relate this to the variations that existed across the USA, and to explain how some areas were more expensive than others.
Gentrification: how neighborhoods in cities have changed and how these changes have forced up the cost of living.
HIV/AIDS: The students explained that many of their peers were having what we would consider to be unprotected sex, even though they knew the dangers. Many of the Fellows chimed in that their peers were not using condoms.
Race issues: This was a significant area of discussion, as people from both countries discussed their experiences with interracial dating and the use of racial slurs. Our discussion of the Obama presidency included the apparent shift from some long-held race views in the USA, chiefly the understanding that African Americans, with about twelve percent of the US population, could not have been the only group in the USA to vote in Obama as president.
The American Dream: We varied our take on this, as can be expected, but emphasized the idea of mobility in American society, and how people can move in many ways, including geography, class, and education. We linked this in some ways to the discussion of race issues, and specifically Obama. It was easy to see that the perspective about this varied among our Fellows, especially considering that we have two African Americans among us, one of whom is 61 years old and the other of whom is 25.
Overall, we found the students to be not only curious but straightforward in expresing their points of view and most eager to engage in discussion with us. Of the eighteen LEAPSAs present, fifteen handed in evaluation forms. On the scale of 1 to 10, in response to the the question of “how useful/interesting did you find the material?” three of the students gave us a 7, one gave us an 8, eight gave us a 9, and three gave us a 10, for an average grade of 8.73. Of course every teacher would like to see the average to be higher than a 9, but I felt satisfied that we had accomplished our goals for the session.
Concurrent to the class, some of the Fellows were working in the Leap School kitchen to prepare lunch. We had decided on a meal that would include both American and South African dishes. The local dish was beans and samp; I never fully got what samp is, but it seems to be some sort of grain. The American contributions were macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and green salad.
On my way to the class, I tried my phone again. I called the necessary number to find out what my balance was. Up until this time, there was always the message that there was zero. Now, for the first time, I got the message that I had R270.69. The SIM swap was finally complete! I had a phone with credit!
Before we ate, though, we took time for our celebration that concluded this part of our work together. Yesterday we had taken classes on various performing arts. Today, all the groups that had practiced these yesterday had an opportunity to perform for each other, LEAPSAs and TWAs combined and working together in every group.
We had two separate choral groups, gumboot dancing, drumming, and another kind of dancing. There was joyous appreciation all around, both on the part of the TWA Fellows who had worked so hard to learn local styles of performing, and among the LEAPSAs who appreciated our joining them in celebrating these aspects of their culture.
When we ate after the performances, I was curious about the samp and beans, but it was prepared with a meat bullion, so I passed on it. There was an abundance of other food. From the looks of it, everyone had plenty to eat.
By the time we were ready to leave the Leap School it was around 4:00. We contacted Ashfaak, whom I have mentioned previously, and arranged for transportation for the remainder of the day. Some of us went back to the lodge and another group wanted to do some shopping. Ultimately, all but one of us was going to meet for dinner on Long Street, which is located in downtown Cape Town and has a lot of restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.
For those of us who wanted to do a little shopping, Ashfaak took us not just to a mall, but to the largest shopping all in Africa: Canal Walk in Century City. With more than four hundred shops and restaurants, Canal Walk has something for everyone.
In its appearance, it is very much like any American shopping mall that you may have seen. There are a few stores than an American may recognize, such as Aldo shoes and Toys R Us. There are also plenty of Australian chains and many that I was seeing for the first time here, so I am guessing that they are local.
The scene at the mall was fascinating to observe. Many of the stores provide shopping carts (called “trolleys” here), which the shoppers are free to roll around throughout either of the mall's two stories (I noted that there is are poles at the entry point of the escalators, which prevent people from trying to get them from floor to floor by that method.)
Judging by the headscarves on many of the women, there is a visible and sizeable Muslim population here. Most of the restaurants, both inside of and outside of the food court, had a similar appearance to those with which I was already familiar. Smoking is not allowed at any of the tables that are out in the open. However, many of the restaurants had separate smoking sections that are completely sealed off from the general air circulation of the mall, which seemed to be a good way to let smokers have their own space and not inflict the rest of us with the secondhand smoke.
My mission was to find SpecSavers, an optician where I had been told I could find the most reasonable prices for reading glasses, of which I wanted to buy a spare pair. I did find them and placed an order for a pair that turned out to be $100 cheaper than they would be at home.
I also found a place to send some e-mail, which is still an issue at the lodge. It was expensive, at R24 for half an hour (about $3), but I was happy to get the job done, and especially to get some e-mails from Nick. One of his e-mails had been sent recently, so I took a chance that he was still online and told him it was a good time to call me. It wasn't too long before my phone rang.
Even though I have Nick's number in my phone contact directory, this overseas call was showing up simply as “Call.” It could only be Nick. I answered and heard nothing. Perhaps my being in this shopping mall was making reception difficult. The phone kept on ringing, until I finally stepped outside the mall. I sent him a text that I was outside and there may be better reception, but I didn't get a return call.
Ashfaak transported the group at the lodge to Long Street and they found a restaurant. Then he collected us at the appointed place and time so that he could take us down there. Joy called to tell me where they were, and that is where Ashfaak took us. We had a delicious Indian meal at Maharajah.
After dinner, most of the folks wanted to go out to the local nightclubs, so Ashfaak drove home the four of us who wanted to return to the lodge.
I got into bed a little after midnight, which is late for me. I thought I'd see if I could reach Nick, as it was only 6:15 PM his time. I got him, and he called me back on his Skype. We haven't been successful in making good phone contact from other places, but the reception seems to work out all right here at the lodge, so we are going to have to continue phone calls to this location.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
It is raining today. Up until now, we have had an occasional sprinkle, but this is the first really bad weather we have had since our arrival.
My plan was to stay around the house as much as possible for the day, but I did volunteer to walk to the Pick 'n Pay at Howard Centre to help out with the shopping. I was one of the group of five who headed over there to do the task.
We filled two large shopping carts with our purchases: that's a lot of food, considering that there are twenty of us. We'll be lucky if this supply lasts two to three days.
The original plan was to walk home with the groceries, but we could see that that would be too much for us. One of the group found out that there are some men at the center whose job it is to accompany people home with their grocery carts and then take the cart back to the store, so we took advantage of that service.
I was writing on the computer, using the word processing function, when somebody came in and asked, "Is it true the Internet is working?" I checked, and it was! That was a pleasant surprise.
A group of my TWA colleagues just came in here to play cards. One of them was humming and whistling a Christmas song, which I was hoping would end soon. But then somebody with a computer that has lots of music on it picked up on that and now they are in full Christmas music swing, so I have to finish this up and get out of the room before I lose my mind.
Monday, 13 July 2009
Something I have not written about yet are the names of some of the people we have been meeting. There is a range of names, as some are complicated to remember and some are familiar. A few of them, here for your reading enjoyment, are:
Mhleli, Zolile, Mokelo, Siyasonga, Lwandolwethu, Vuyelwa, Mziyande, Nyameka (nicknamed Meka), Lindile, Likone, Ngwe, Zintle, Odwa, Mathabo, Mihlali, Nomava (nicknamed Vhava), Zandile, Todii, Akhona, and Lukholo (“Call me Steve”).
Interspersed with these most unusual names that are hard to remember are some that are much more familiar: Patricia, Paul, Lydia, Tania, James, Valentine, and Precious are a few of the people I have met.
When I wrote about the visit to Robben Island, I mentioned how I had confused the pronunciation of “warders” (the prison guards) with the word “waters,” because that is what it sounded like to me.
There are lots of other confusing pronunciations. I have made note of a few of them.
The other day, when I was at the Leap School, I went to the cafeteria to see if there was any food for sale. An employee there said that they had what sounded like a “baygah.” The only word I could think of was “bagel.” It was unbelieveable to me that they would have a bagel here. I asked if I could see it. When the server brought me what she was talking about, I could see that it was a hamburger, which helped me to realize that the word she was saying was “burger,” not “bagel.”
One of the students who spoke to us used a word that sounded like “wekfist,” which rhymed with “breakfast.” I was puzzled for a while, and then finally came to the conclusion that he was saying “work fast.”
The owner of the Beulah Lodge, where we are living, referred to one of the managers as “Marti.” I can add that I am not the only one who interpreted her name as such. When I asked her to spell her name for me, I was surprised by what she told me, as she spelled it M – a – r – i – e. Oh, it's “Marie,” not “Marti.”
The misunderstanding comes with the different pronunciations of the “r” sound. We say it with our upper teeth resting on the inside of the lower lip. Most people here say it with the tongue resting behind the upper teeth, which gives it a sound closer to a "d" than an "r" for Americans.
Marie has a dog whose name sounds like “Der-RENZ” when she says it. I asked her to spell that for me, and she said, “T – e – r – r – e – n – c – e.” The pronunciation of the "t" is a lot closer to our "d."
What I am dealing with are two issues: different pronunciations of words as well as emphasis on different syllables.
*****
Today was a transitional day in many ways. About half of the TWA Fellows were scheduled to go to camp for the grade twelve students of the Leap School.
The school year here is the same as the calendar year. Right now is the winter vacation, which takes place in the middle of the school year. This is the last week of vacation, and all the grade twelve students have their camp experience before school resumes next week.
The students and seven of us TWA Fellows boarded a sixty-five-seat bus at the school for the one- hour ride to the site that contains four camps located on land that was donated by a prominent local member of the Rotary Club. (Note that another group of TWA Fellows is coming to the camp later in the week.)
I got lucky with my accommodation, in that I was in a double room with Bonisile, who is a Leap School teacher in charge of the camp program this week. The other TWA Fellows are in a larger dorm room with bunk beds. They are the only ones in that room, and then there are two other rooms with all the (male) students on our side of the building.
The bathroom for all the males to share has two sinks, two toilets, a long urinal, and a shower with two shower heads to accommodate the large group. It seemed apparent to me, upon surveying the situation, that I would not be taking a shower while I was there.
Fozia did the shopping for all meals. She made some outstanding choices of food for the TWA Fellows, which was different from what the kids were going to eat. The spread she put out included cheese plates, guacamole, oat and rice cakes, multigrain breads, dates, fresh and dried fruit, nuts, salad ingredients, pesto spreads, and the like. Fozia is a unifying force in the Leap School, a Malay Muslim who, according to the South African racial nomenclature is considered to be coloured, and refers to herself as black.
After settling in, we had a few orientation sessions. One was with the entire group, in which we introduced ourselves and talked about what we were looking forward to while here. We also went over some fundamental rules for the week at camp. Then, the larger group broke into two, during which the Life Orientation (L.O.) facilitators led the students in talking about some of the issues that they are now facing in their lives.
We had heard before we came here about L.O. It is a tough-love and in-your-face group therapy approach towards directing the students toward dealing with life issues that may be keeping them from being successful.
A few of the kids in my group mentioned that they were dealing with abuse of alcohol, as well as associating with friends they referred to as “gangsters.” Tyrone, one of the L. O. facilitators, was ruthless with the kids in having them recognize their personal responsibilities with regard to drinking as well as associating with others who are involved in criminal activities.
In defense of the kids, it seems to me that they certainly have a very difficult situation on their hands:
Leap School is not located in any of the communities in which they live, which means that they leave their home area every day to attend class. Then, when back home, they are surrounded by people who are still living there, including childhood friends with whom they have grown up and with whom they cannot but continue to associate.
It is evident that they get excellent support at school, as they are surrounded by other kids who are striving to get an education and change their lives. But once they are on their home turf, thrown back into the mix with others in their neighborhoods and communities, which are populated predominantly by people who are not on the same path toward better education and self-improvement, they have to struggle to be part of that group and be accepted as members. Their only choices are to participate in undesireable behaviors or risk being alienated by those around them.
In the late afternoon, there was a study session. The material that they were studying was related to their science and math. Some of the kids asked me for the meaning of some of the words associated with their reading. As I looked at the papers – with information about fertilizers and the way that they work – I felt useless in being able to help the kids, as much of the work included scientific formulas for the various kinds of fertilizers, about which I know nothing.
This was to be the one time during the entire camp session when I was supposed to be useful in helping out, yet I felt frustrated because the information was not anything I knew about.
The kids had their dinner and then went to their dorms, while the adults had a bit of an L. O. session of our own. It got to be much heavier than I anticipated, in that one new white teacher from the Leap School staff, now in the middle of her first year at this school, rather innocently expressed that she was now finally having an opportunity to meet and speak to others from Leap, and that this is the first time she is having the chance to do that.
The fact that these people she is finally relating to are black seemed to bring on allegations of her being racist. From what I could ascertain, she works at Leap 2 and the others work at Leap 1, two schools run separately, though they are located on separate floors of the same building.
This brought up some very tense and uncomfortable moments, with this teacher explaining that she and the other teachers simply are not working in the same places, and furthermore informing them of some of her family history, most critical of which was that her parents were active in working in “the struggle.” References here to “the struggle” means only one thing: the struggle to topple the apartheid regime. She made it clear that she was interested in meeting and working with all the teachers in the school, but that they were just not in the same place.
A few of the black members of the group interpreted this behavior on her part as being racist, and called her on it, which led to her crying and denials of that label.
It was difficult sitting there as an observer to this process. In my opinion, she had made a simple statement of facts – that she hadn't met some of the people here and was looking forward to getting to know them – and had been attacked in return.
This discussion was, for me, an example of how deeply the racial lines are drawn here in South Africa, and how difficult it is to overcome the divides that exist among the various racial groups.
Once that meeting was over, we were finally able to have our dinner. The kids had eaten already, more or less on time, but our dinner was close to two hours later then the scheduled 6:30.
After dinner, TWA members were on the schedule for being in charge of ninety minutes of games. We had met briefly to discuss what we would do. Most of the time was spent playing two games that Joy introduced to the group; these games were received with great enthusiasm by the kids, and we all had a hilarious time with them.
First up was Shuffle Your Butts. In this game, one person stood in the center of the ring of seats, and there was one empty seat. The point of the game was for everyone to shift their seats in order to prevent that person from sitting down. The method for shifting seats was for the person on one side of it to move into it, thus emptying her/his seat, which the person next to it would shift into, which created a chain of people, one after the next, emptying their seats.
There was very little time between one seat being empty and having somebody else fill it. The person in the middle had to anticipate a seat being empty so she could fill it. She also had the right to call out, “Change,” which meant that everyone shifting seats had to change direction, thus creating another opportunity to offer an empty seat.
The response to this – about sixty people in that large circle – was great hilarity.
Building on the success of that game, Joy introduced yet another one. This one was called Train Wreck, and it had a similar dynamic, with one person in the center having to find an empty seat. This person called out a statement such as, “I like people wearing hats,” at which all people wearing hats had to get out of their seats and race to another part of the circle to get another seat. The person in the center was also going for one of the empty seats, so that there would always be one more person than seats available.
If the person in the middle called out, “Train wreck,” it meant that everyone had to get up and find another seat.
Once again, everyone enjoyed the game and had a great time with it.
Bedtime came and the boys were not ready to sleep. Yes, the lights went out. Yes, they got into bed. That didn't mean that the talking stopped. It's a good thing I had my earplugs with me. They aren't one hundred percent effective, but they helped to block out most of the noise, so I was able to get to sleep.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
The boys were not only up at 6:00 AM, and not only talking, but one of them was singing at the top of his lungs and stomping rhythmically to accompany the singing, the way that they do when the choirs sing.
After breakfast, we had another L. O. session. It took a while to get going because nobody spoke up about any problems. We finally got rolling when one of the girls complained about how noisy some of them were the previous night when everyone was supposed to be going to sleep.
The L. O. facilitators picked up on this right away, and focused on the need for people to be respectful to others, which is part of the Leap School Code of Conduct. In listening to the students speak, I found it odd that when we are in a large group such as this, it is difficult for them to speak up loudly enough to be heard across the large room. They use very soft and conversational voices, as if the people they are speaking to are right next to them, despite the fact that they need to be heard by everyone in the rather large group. At other times, though, when they are speaking to each other in small groups, their voices are so loud that it is difficult to hear somebody who is right next to me and talking to me.
After the L. O. session, there was another study session. One of the English teachers from the school came to the camp to hand out instruction sheets for the kids to be able to write a five-page research paper based on their reading material.
Once I saw these directions, I found that I was going to be able to be useful to the kids, in that even though I was not familiar with the material about fertilizers, I could read a direction concerning what they needed to do with the subject matter, and then help them to find the answers to their questions from within the material.
I was pleased to find that I was finally going to be useful to the kids. I sat with a group of five boys who were working with their papers and I was able to lead them towards answering the first two questions that they needed to write for their paper.
There was another study session planned for the afternoon, and we all agreed to work together again so that they could advance further in their project.
The building in which we were sitting was cold; I'd guess it to be in the mid to upper fifties. I kept my scarf, gloves, jacket, and hat on during the morning. By lunchtime I had regained the sensation in my toes. The air was warming up a bit, but I also give body-warming credit to the butternut squash soup that Fozia had made for our lunch. After we ate, I gathered some of the cups and dishes so that I could wash them. I wasn't being totally altruistic, though: I was using the dishwashing water as a means of getting my hands warm.
We had a one-hour walk scheduled for the afternoon, but it started raining right around that time. There was no formal announcement of the walk being cancelled, though, and everyone seemed to scatter, with most of the kids retreating to their dorms.
The rain stopped, and there was then more than half an hour to go before the scheduled “values process group” at 2:30. I needed to get my body moving, so I walked a little bit, all the while watching the time so that I could adhere to one of the camp rules - “Be punctual” - and return in time for the group meeting.
I did get back in time, and found that there was really no reason to have done so, as we were sitting around, just chatting, until the group started to form at about 3:15, and we didn't get started with the group until just before 3:30 – a full hour after the announced time. They could have saved the paper used to print these schedules, since there was no adherence to announced times by the people who were in charge of enforcing them.
As our Executive Director Amy advised us, even though we are aware that things will not be done on time, we are to be on time ourselves, as evidence of our respect for the program.
The scheduled session began with an issue of one group making noise during the morning study session; this noise disturbed the other group, and there was once again considerable talk about showing each other respect. Another problem that was brought up was the disrespect being shown between the students of Leap 1 and Leap 2, the two entities that are being simultaneously operated within the same building.
We were half an hour into this discussion when three boys came into the room from outside the building and began to look for seats so they could join the group. The L. O. facilitators immediately switched the focus of the discussion to these three who were not part of the group to begin with. Where had they been? Never mind where they had been: they had been totally apart from the group for the last half-hour and were directed to go to their rooms, pack their bags, and prepare to be sent home. They would have to explain to their families what had happened, and come to school next Monday with their families.
Once back on track with the large group discussion, we continued for another half hour when four more boys waltzed into the group and tried to be discrete in finding seating. But there was no way that they could slip in, as it was evident to all present that they were there. A few of them were carrying grocery bags from Pick 'n Pay. It was obvious where they had been: AWOL to the nearest town.
Bonisile, the camp facilitator asked them, “Are you running your own program?”
These boys were told that they, too, would have to leave. But instead of their leaving the room immediately, the L. O. leaders this time chose to shift the group discussion towards finding out why they had gone AWOL and buying groceries.
The boys brought up complaints about the food that had been served. The facilitators were surprised that there were complaints about the food, especially in light of the fact that everyone had been asked, during the morning session, if the kids had anything that they wanted to talk about. Nobody had mentioned food as a complaint. Why hadn't they mentioned this when they had the opportunity to do so? the facilitator wanted to know.
The L. O. leaders are working on getting the kids to speak their minds about all issues, and this is a main focus of the Life Orientation groups: speaking your mind and addressing issues that concern you.
Once this group session was over, it was time to have dinner, which was running late anyway. A driver arrived with Tuksie, the principal of one of the Leap Schools. Tuksie was consulted in the kitchen about what had happened with the AWOL boys, and she decided, in concert with the other adults, that it would be too difficult to arrange for the driver to drive home each boy and explain to the parents what had happened. Not only that, but the driver came with a vehicle that would not have enough room for all of them.
In my opinion, it was probably a better decision to let the kids stay at the camp so that the staff could work with them on the resolution of the problems that led to their being AWOL in the first place.
Since this driver was going back to Cape Town after dropping her off, I seized my opportunity to return to the lodge rather than spend another night at the camp.
The schedule had been rearranged in such a way that the afternoon study session, at which I was going to help the guys with their research papers, was totally eliminated. All that was going to happen that evening was playing the group games, and then going to bed. Why stick around, I reasoned, and then return to the lodge in the morning, when I could be back there that evening? So I left with the driver.
Once back at the lodge, I found that the dozen or so TWA Fellows who had stayed behind were in high gear towards dinner preparation. They had settled upon a different approach towards eating: putting two tables together in the same room, and eating by candlelight. This was made possible simply by having a smaller group to work with. They said that they had done this both nights while we were at camp.
With my roommate still back at the camp, this was the first time since I left home that I had slept in a room by myself.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Most of the Fellows who had stayed behind at the lodge were picked up at 8:00 to be transported to camp. The minibus was then going to pick up the others at camp to bring them back to Cape Town.
It was cold at the lodge last night. Even with a heater in my room all night, the temperature in there was 59 degrees F.
I was delighted to have a hot shower and to get into some clean clothes. I hadn’t taken a lot of extra clothing with me to camp because we were told we would be there for only one night. That was one of the reasons I took the chance to leave when I did: I was simply not prepared, neither mentally nor physically, for two nights at camp instead of one.
I headed over to the school and assisted Sara with a session she conducted on creative writing. Then I went upstairs to the computer lab to catch up on e-mail and blogging, which was the first time I was online in two days.
In the evening, I prepared a pot of soup, but not everyone was there to help eat it, as about half of our already small group had gone down to the Waterfront to do some shopping and to eat dinner there.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Some of the TWA Fellows had classes to teach at the Leap School and some were still at camp. In the morning I went to the school to catch up on blogging and e-mails.
Back at the lodge for lunch, several of us had a discussion about the Life Orientation sessions that we had seen at camp. One of the group, training to be a psychologist, explained that it was nothing like any kind of therapy with which she is familiar.
Another choice bit of information came to light: gay men are not tolerated here in the black communities, and lesbians are killed. The Fellow who told us that explained that she had heard that one of the boys at camp was out to everyone and having a very difficult time. Statistically speaking, of course, there would have to be several more gay students. I don't blame them for keeping their mouths shut if they are gay, though, because it is definitely not a safe reveal.
On the other hand, Leon, a local tour guide who is helping us out, brought over a bunch of brochures about Cape Town and the region. One of the pieces he left with us was “The Pink Map Gay Guide to Cape Town,” which listed a wide variety of gay venues and included information about the Gape Town Gay Pride Festival and the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras.
There is apparently a divide along racial lines concerning the acceptability and visibility of being gay.
Lots of people are getting sick. Half a dozen or so are fighting bad colds.
In the evening I went to the Pinelands Toastmasters meeting. One of my objectives was to see if I could make some contacts with local Toastmasters who would be willing to do some work with students at the Leap School. Unlike my home club, where we meet every week, the local clubs here tend to meet only once a month, which made it all the more important that I attend the meeting. Otherwise, I would have missed it until it was time to go home.
I got lucky at the meeting: one of the people in attendance, who is not even a member of that club, was the man who is in charge of the local Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program! We exchanged contact information and hope to be able to be in touch later on about how to get Toastmasters involved at Leap School.
When I got back to the lodge it was after 10:00. A group was in the kitchen preparing dinner. The people who had been to camp weren't back yet. By the time everyone sat down to dinner it was 11:00, which was much too late for me to eat, as I was going to be heading to bed as soon as possible. I did sit there with everyone, though. It was important for everyone to be together, as four of the Fellows were going to Johannesburg the next day and will be staying there to work for a month at the Leap 3 School.
In the evening, the Internet, which had been working for a few days, lost its connection. We had wondered whether we were overloading it, but in this case, it seemed that I was the only one using it when it died, as everyone else was involved either in dinner preparation or socializing.
The weather took a turn for the better today. It was brilliantly sunny all day, and much warmer than the last few days. I was fine outside with my long-sleeved shirt and sweatshirt, not needing the jacket I had worn earlier in the week.
At night it was 67 degrees in my room, which was much more comfortable than the chilly 59 it had been the night before.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Taking advantage of the rare three-day weekend, most of the group rented cars and left town. This left six of us behind.
Joy, Dom, and I took a taxi downtown and had a chance to see the South Africa Jewish Museum, which is a beautiful cluster of buildings. Then we walked to the area where the Pan African Market is, and looked at the overpriced art that is made for tourists.
Sasho, Subina, and Karen came downtown later in the day and we all had dinner together. It was Karen's send-off, as her two-week stay with us is now over. She worked very hard at getting lots of videos taken and distributed.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
I did some shopping for the group, with the emphasis mostly on being sure that there is enough breakfast food for Monday.
With some free time on my hands, I also had a creative burst of energy and made some cards to send Nick. I got as far away as the Howard Centre, the nearby shopping center, and other than that I stayed around the lodge for the rest of the day.
Karen left this afternoon, and now there are five of us here. When she went to the airport, Joy and Dom went with her so that they could rent a car for a day trip tomorrow. The five of us will head out for the day together.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
We left the lodge about 9:30 AM. Joy rented a car. Sasho, Dom, Subina, Joy, and I headed west for a day of sightseeing.
We stopped for breakfast in Gordon's Bay. That was fun, as Sasho and I shared a bottle of champagne to pour into our orange juice to make mimosas. Then it was off to Betty's Bay and Stony Point.
The featured sight at Stony Point was penguins. The area is populated with a colony of African penguins, also known as jackass penguins. I have some photos of them and will be posting them soon.
Our furthest point east was Hermanus. Then we turned around and headed back to Cape Town International to drop off the car.
Good weekend!
Monday, 20 July 2009
Today school reconvened after the winter holidays. The students showed up in their uniforms, ready to learn.
The uniform consists of grey slacks for both boys and girls, though some girls are wearing grey skirts. All students wear white shirts, the school tie, which is mostly black with thin orange stripes, and either a long- or short-sleeved grey or black sweater. They look very professional and serious in their uniforms.
The teacher to whom I am assigned to work was out of school sick. There is a student teacher who was in and out (mostly out) of her classes to get the students going in a writing assignment. For part of the morning, there was also a TWA Fellow in the classroom; this is somebody who is getting some student teaching credit from her home college program for doing student teaching here at the Leap School..
When I heard the assignment that the kids were to work on, I couldn't believe it: what I did during my vacation! That old cliché writing project is not just American, but international!
There were some twists on this assignment, though, in that the students were to work on three sheets of paper: the first was a mind map, the second a rough draft, and the third was the final copy. Additionally, according to what I heard from the instructions given by Andisani, the Leap School student teacher, the kids were to emphasize the bad things that had happened during their vacation.
In the middle of the morning, I was pulled out of the classroom so that Joy and I could attend a meeting with Sammy, the director of the Learning Center, where many of the students go for assistance with their work. Integral to the Learning Center are many tutors, most of whom come from other African countries, and who also need help themselves with their writing skills in English.
Sammy is going to be in touch with the tutors this week to find out times when they can come to the school for assistance with their writing. Joy and I are going to be working with them. That part of my schedule, therefore, is still unclear, but it is clear that time I work with these tutors is time that I will not be in class with Jenni, my assigned teacher.
At lunch time, those of us Fellows assigned to the Leap 1 School, which is about eight of us, had social time in the staff room with the school faculty. Tuksie, the principal, is very welcoming and inclusive. According to her, we are members of the staff just like all the other teachers, and have all the same rights and responsibilities.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
I arrived in class to see that yet another student teacher was speaking to the class, but not in English. I imagine it was Xhosa that they were speaking. He handed out a reading assignment and then left.
Once he was gone, kids were coming to me for explanations of vocabulary words in their reading. It was clear to me that the assignment was over their heads, as there were too many words that the kids didn’t comprehend.
Being the only adult in the room, I went to the head of the class, introduced myself, and then began explaining some of the vocabulary.
In general, the school is well-stocked, but there have been several occasions when a marking pen for the whiteboard was simply not around, or there was no eraser. One of the kids went to find a writing pen, said there were none available, and left it at that. Then another kid found one at the back of the room. I think I am going to have to purchase my own and keep it with me at all times so that at least I will be able to write on the board.
I did the best I could in explaining the vocabulary and context. This is something I am able to do.
Once the class was over, I saw Jenni at the back of the room. She had been in the building all along, but in an adjacent room. It is clear she is still not feeling well, and I will do what I can to help her out with her classes.
Following that class, I had a break for about an hour. At the end of the break, I took a look at the schedule I am supposed to be following. I realized that the class I stepped in to teach, though it was held in Jenni’s classroom – the one with her name on the door – it was evidently NOT her class, as her class was in the next room! I had taught the wrong class! I have no idea whose class it was supposed to be, but I guess I won’t be seeing those kids again.
I attended the other classes for the day, but pretty much just sat there, as Jenni did her teaching. I offered Amy to help her with her student teaching lessons, as she is going to be taking over a few of Jenni's classes.
In the afternoon I took a walk to the Howard Centre to get my hair cut. It was getting long and I wanted to keep it that way, but it's at the stage where it was unruly, so I went for a shorter cut that is easier to keep under control.
In the evening, Joy informed me that there will be a change in my schedule; I am going to be reassigned to Leap 2 as of tomorrow. I am to report to Gus, the Leap 2 principal, first thing tomorrow morning so that we can come up with classes for me to work with.
Joy got a schedule from Sammy today, too, and I will be working with a small group of tutors in the Learning Center for an hour a day three days a week. So that part is falling into place.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
I met with Gus in the morning and was assigned to my new teacher, Cathy. In the morning I observed her in one of her classes.
By noon, though, I had to leave the school because last week I made a lunch appointment to meet with a Toastmaster who works in the Old Mutual building very close to the school. I am trying to build up some local support for Toastmasters working with Leap School students so that the Youth Leadership Program can continue here long after TWA leaves the area.
In the evening there was yet another Toastmasters meeting, which was a different club meeting in the same building as the one from last week. I met the District Governor, who is supportive of working with Leap School, and I also met the president of the club, who works at Old Mutual and comes every Tuesday to mentor students at TSiBA, the program housed in the same building as Leap School.
It was a very successful meeting, in that I was asked to speak to the group about my involvement with Leap Schools and Teach With Africa. People seemed very positive about being able to help out if they can. One of the people I met at the meeting identified himself as a friend of Gus and a former student of John Gilmore.
At the two Toastmasters meetings I have been to here, they have beer and wine for sale. People enjoy their beverages during the meeting. Each meeting also includes a toast to South Africa. Last week, the simple and poignant toast was, “To South Africa and her people.” I was moved to see the entire membership lift their glasses and respond in unison, “To South Africa and her people.”
This week, in light of the fact that last Saturday was Nelson Mandela Day, there was a toast to him and his past leadership of South Africa.
Whereas the first club meeting I went to was all white, this club included people of other races, too. It’s hard to know how widespread are the sentiments among South Africans that all people living here have to work together, but I was happy to see that it was very much in evidence at this meeting.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
I met for the first time with the people who tutor at the Leap Schools Learning Centre. Ten of them showed up for the meeting today, and nine of the ten are from the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). They are Francophone, which helps to explain some of the mistakes that they make in their speaking English. The tenth one is from Zimbabwe.
Joy and I are working together with these folks. We had them do a little writing so that we could go over what they had written to see what kinds of similar mistakes they make, and then will tailor our instruction to that.
I took home the notebooks in which they wrote and then I put together an instruction sheet. Cathy, the English teacher with whom I am working, does not have the benefit of an English textbook. What she does is photocopy worksheets and then hands them out to her class, along with glue sticks. The kids use the glue sticks to paste the worksheets into their notebooks. Thus, they create their own textbook/notebook.
In the afternoon, those of us TWA Fellows assigned to Leap 2 attended their staff meeting. This was the first meeting since the recent winter vacation. Gus, the principal, focused the faculty on goal-setting and the work that they have to do for the remainder of the school year.
These teachers work longer hours and more days than most teachers in the USA. In addition to their normal work week, people sign up for evening tutoring sessions and Saturday tutoring sessions.
Friday, 24 July 2009
Each of the two Leap Schools has its own weekly community meetings. These are programmed and run by the various tutor classes, which works out to be something like what we would call a homeroom.
The important emphasis here is that while the teachers are present for the meeting, it is the students who are charged with the responsibility for putting together and running the meeting. For this meeting, there were performances by a choir and a solo dance by one of the students. Both were warmly and enthusiastically received by the entire student body.
Following the community meeting was the weekly staff tea, which took place during the lunch hour. On a rotating basis, faculty bring in food for everyone to share, and they consume this together in the staff room every Friday. It creates a nice communal feeling for the staff to be able to do this together at least once a week.
In the afternoon, I met with Cathy, my newly assigned teacher, and she gave me a schedule that she had sketched out with regard to how I could help out during the upcoming weeks during which we will work together. I will write more about that as the time advances.
Capetonians are characterized as being among the most laidback of all South Africans, and as people who treasure their weekends. I have heard a few people describe the weekend as including Friday and Monday, in that on Friday everyone is more concerned with preparing for their weekend (instead of working) and that on Monday they are still recovering from the weekend, and not yet in full work mode.
I was ready for the weekend – not that I had worked particularly hard, but I was looking forward to a greater degree of autonomy with regard to where I go and how I spend my time.
We have been advised on several occasions by a few different people that the trains here are unsafe. I am trying to sort out the truth from the fantasy. My guess is that there may be some degree of danger in riding on the trains, but that the largest aspect of the so-called danger is rooted in the minds of the people who are warning against riding them, as these people are (a) rich and (b) white. My initial assumption, therefore, is that the largest issues we are dealing with are classism and racism, as opposed to danger.
In a recent e-mail from the TWA management, there was expression of “concern about ongoing safety,” with the suggestions that we “look out for each other.” I very much agree with that and the advice that, “Two is always safer than one.” By the same token, we were also advised to, “Take things on a case-by-case basis, assessing the situation, and use your best judgment.”
I am a cautious person who does decidedly NOT take chances with my own life and wellbeing. At the same time, I do not want to be imprisoned by somebody else's fear or perception thereof.
I write all of this as an prelude to my explanation that on Friday afternoon I took the train from Mutual, the stop nearest our lodge, to Cape Town. (Additional note: the train costs R5.50, about 70 cents, compared to a taxicab, which varies, depending on what the meter shows, but a typical fare is R120, about $15.)
I add that during the time I was on the train, we were leading up to rush hour and there were, therefore, many people on board. While the trains seemed a bit dingy and probably not up to the standards that the rich white South African minority generally enjoys, I did not sense any element of danger in my being there.
Several times on board a singing blind person was led by a sighted guide from one end of the train to the other. While I do not have numbers or statistics to back this up, in my assessment the percentage of people who dug into their pockets and purses to put spare change into the blind person's cup was significantly higher than what I have seen in such places as the New York subway.
(Note: Read to the end of this post to find some additional information about the trains.)
My first destination for the evening was the synagogue where the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation has its kabbalat shabbat services. People who enter the compound, which also includes the South Africa Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Museum, have to show identification and answer lots of questions.
The guard asked me where I was staying and how I got there. When I told him I had come from Pinelands on the train, his eyes about bugged out of his head. “Are you going back there on the train tonight?” he wanted to know. I told him that I would be returning by taxi, to which he expressed his relief.
I always enjoy experiencing services when I travel to other countries. This beautiful synagogue hosted a service that was a fairly mixed bag in that it included elements of a range of practices from Orthodox to progressive. Some of the elements were:
The women are seated separately, upstairs. The chazzan sang from a central bimah and was accompanied during much of the service by a chorus of about ten men. There were announcements of page numbers in English, many tunes were recognizable, and the young Chasidic rabbi gave a sermon in English. At the end of the service, all children came to the front of the shul to participate in kiddush, and this included the girls as well as the boys.
After the service, I walked to Long Street, where I wanted to have dinner in an Ethiopian restaurant I had spotted there earlier. It was on the higher end of cost, but still fairly reasonable by US standards.
After my meal, it was easy to find a taxi to come back to the lodge, as they are plentiful on Long Street.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
The Leap School hosts tutoring sessions from nine to noon on Saturdays. I worked for a bit with somebody who was taking one of the practice exams that leads to taking the final matriculation exam, but that didn't last long because she was needed to work on an English project with a classmate. She said she would return to the Monday evening tutoring session, so I told her I would show up for that and help her there.
The other night at the Toastmasters meeting, when I gave my business card to the District Governor, he noticed that I listed myself as being a personal organizer. In doing so, he told me that he knew somebody locally who did the same sort of work, and he put me in touch with her.
That is how I met Tracey and Doug. Tracey is the co-founder of the Professional Organiser Association Africa. She is very interested in doing public speaking; Doug has also been a Toastmaster.
They picked me up at the lodge in the early afternoon and we headed out for a long drive, along with their children, Ryland and Deena.
Our first stop was the Rhodes Monument, dedicated to John Cecil Rhodes, with fabulous views of the area below. We drove through Kirstenbosch, to Hout Bay, and Camps Bay. It was enjoyable being in their company and with the children as well.
On the way home, I asked if it was out of their way to drop me off at Canal Walk, the big shopping mall. Doug said it wasn't, but as long as I was going there, they could pick up a new set of earphones for Ryland's iPod. I was keen to pick up my new reading glasses, as I had received a call that they were ready. In picking up my new glasses, I also deposited all my old pairs with the store, as they donate them to the Lions.
We didn't stay there long. They dropped me off at the lodge on their way home, which is about forty-five minutes away.
In the evening, everyone at the lodge who is under the age of sixty (which would mean everyone except for three of us) was preparing to head out for the evening. That left the place very quiet for a restful evening at home, catching up on writing and e-mails.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
The excellent weather is holding out, with a warm and sunny weekend!
I was going to go downtown to walk around Long Street and that area, but I got a call from Liz, a Toastmaster I had met, to ask me if I would like to go to church with her in the morning and then take a walk with her and her dog in the afternoon. I passed on the church, but accepted her offer to walk with her dog.
She picked me up and also had her friend Jo with her. I found out that Liz is originally from Zambia and Jo is from Zimbabwe. We took a nice drive to Noordhoek Beach and walked along there with Indi, Liz's Labrador, who was happy to play with all the other dogs, as well as go into and out of the surf.
We also stopped for tea at a local cafe that is welcoming to people with their dogs. Indi got his bowl of water and sat next to us at our table.
One of the things that I talked about with Liz and Jo was the safety factor of riding the trains. They both agreed that the idea of their being dangerous dates back to the eighties and nineties, when there were some violent occurrences and security was lax. Since that time, they both informed me, security has been added and there have been very rare incidences that would make them unsafe. One of them has a daughter who uses the trains all the time to visit friends and go to school.
I was happy this weekend to build connections with people who have not only been welcoming to me as a visitor to their country, but may also eventually be helpful to the program at Leap School.
Monday, 27 July 2009
It was a long and productive day at Leap School. In the morning, I worked with Cathy in two separate meetings of one of her classes. We met the first time in the classroom, where they were working on rough drafts of articles they are putting together for a newsletter. Later on the same morning, we met in the computer lab, where they were typing their articles into Word documents.
In the English class that I co-teach for the primary school tutors, they were writing about languages that they speak. One of the women wrote that she speaks Swahili, so I asked all of them if they also speak Swahili; they do. That gave me a chance to greet them in one of the only Swahili phrases I know, which is “jambo habariako,” meaning “good morning.”
At lunchtime, we TWA Fellows had a long meeting with John Gilmour about the Life Orientation (L. O.) meeting process as it is carried out at Leap School. The students are not only encouraged but exhorted to be honest, admit mistakes, confront issues, and be open to change. The L. O. meetings are one of the ways that the adults help them to keep on track.
This reminds me that I have not as of yet written the Leap Code of Conduct, which is the watchword on student and teacher behavior in the school. It is written on posters throughout the school:
Be kind.
Be honest.
Be punctual.
Look good.
Be healthy.
Work hard.
Never give up.
Admit mistakes.
Learn from mistakes.
Confront issues.
Be open to change.
Work together.
Share as much as possible.
Getting back to L. O: to the untrained outsider, it looks like a group therapy session and can also be confrontive. John and some of the L. O. staff helped us to gain a better understanding of the process.
In the evening, I was back at the school to help during the evening tutoring session. The student I was supposed to help had been absent from school that day, so Gus, the principal, assigned another to me.
Part of the matriculation exam, which every student must pass in order to apply for university admission, includes the reading of a passage and then answering questions based on it. Toward the end of giving students practice in both reading and answering comprehension questions, the Department of Education of the Republic of South Africa provides sample passages for the students to work on.
The selection I was working on tonight with two of the “metrics” (which is what they call what we would call seniors) was entitled “Elvis and Shakespeare have Broadway 'All Shook Up'.” It was challenging, to say the least.
Starting with the title itself, the students I was working with knew the name Shakespeare, but had no idea who Elvis was, what Broadway is, or the significance of the phrase “All Shook Up.”
And that was only for starters!
Continuing through the piece were enough cultural references so as to confuse the students: gold discs, Memphis, Tennessee; Fargo, North Dakota; and too many others to mention. The students had not only to read this selection but then answer questions at the end.
Each question refers to specific lines and paragraphs in the story. I tried to help by suggesting that the students read the questions first so that they know what kind of information they are looking for as they read the selection. This seemed to help a bit, as they were able to focus their attention.
It still made for a rough and frustrating session.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
The high point of my day was a brief meeting with Johanna, the director of the sewing collective in Kolkfontein. She had completed a few objects I had given to her and wanted to meet so that we could assess the work so far.
In the evening, I spoke with Joy, who had spent time at one of the feeder schools. She thinks it would be a good idea for me to spend time there as well. I agree. But it leads to a logistical question that has to be addressed, in that I have received a schedule for the next several weeks from Cathy, the teacher with whom I am working. Now that she expects that I will be working with her, Cathy has identified various lesson topics for me to help her teach, as well as putting together a timetable when I can help her out in both the classroom and the computer lab. I have agreed to do this.
While it is true that we need to be flexible with our schedules, at the same time, if a person has asked me to make a commitment and I have agreed to do so, don't I have to schedule the flexibility around the already-made agreement? This is definitely something that has to be sorted out, especially in light of the fact that (1) I have already changed assigned teachers and (2) right now we are only four weeks away from our departure.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
In the morning Joy and I taught our English class to the adult tutors. This continues to be enjoyable and it is also somewhat spontaneous, in that it is hard to know what direction in which our teaching will go. It all depends on the needs of these adult students, which are coming up as we go along.
Then I worked with Cathy in a double period during which she distributed and discussed a poem by W. H. Auden (“Funeral Blues”). After the class had their lesson concerning words that they may not have understood, they divided into four groups. Each group was given the responsibility of expressing one of the stanzas. They were allowed to add percussion sounds (drums, xylophone), repeat lines, and they also had to figure out which lines, words, or phrases would be spoken by the entire group, only a few voices, or a solo voice.
While their work began in a very noisy and chaotic manner, I was quite pleased to see the way they finally focused on their work and made the creative decisions that had to be made in order to perform their stanzas.
I came back to the lodge in the middle of the afternoon to create a lesson on pronouns for Cathy's class. She asked me to teach that next week. She asked me to be mindful of the fact that in Xhosa, the home language of her students, there is no distinction between “he” and “she,” or “him” and “her.”
Thursday, 30 July 2009
I began the day in the computer lab with Cathy’s class, which is working on their newsletter. Cathy asked me to help grade the papers. She is going to do the same thing, and she is going to compare the grades I give to the ones she has. One of the surprising aspects of grading in several places I have seen in Africa is how low a score can be on a student's paper and it can still be considered to be a passing grade.
Here, 50% is passing. It was similar in Mauritania, where the maximum grade on all tests and at the end of the class was 20, and 10 was the lowest passing grade.
By comparison, if I remember correctly from my own education, a grade below 60 or 65% (depending on the school) was considered failing.
In the afternoon we had two meetings. First up was one about the workshops that we are going to be giving in August over the course of two weekends. I had signed on to help out with the workshop about speaking and writing. Two other TWA Fellows are not here yet, so I was advanced (by whoever put the meeting schedule together) from being the helper to being in charge of the workshop.
This workshop is going to be presented to teachers from the area primary schools. They are keen to get some useful information about teaching writing. Maud and Steven, two Leap School teachers, are on the team of teachers who will be teaching this workshop; they recently got back from the USA, where they attended some writing classes for teachers from several countries around the world. They had plenty of ideas about what the teachers here could use.
For the second meeting, we divided up by the staffs of Leap 1 and Leap 2. An agenda item was a directive from John, director of Leap Schools, who has just put into place the precise number of classroom periods we TWA Fellows are to be collaborating with the Leap School teachers. In going through my current schedule, I found that I am a few hours short each week. Steven does not have a TWA Fellow to work with him, so he asked me if I assist him a few hours a week, and I will.
In our speaking to each other, I learned that Steven is now in his first year at Leap School and that he has taught for four years in Nagoya, Japan as well as having worked briefly a few blocks away from where I live in San Francisco. It was fun to speak Japanese with him.
Once the meetings were over, I headed to downtown Cape Town for the weekend. Each of us TWA Fellows has one three-day weekend during our two months here. This weekend is mine. I checked into a hotel so that I could experience some of the city vibes for three days.
When I bought my train ticket to Cape Town, I also purchased a one-way ticket that I was intending to use for the return trip on Sunday. The lines at the main station can be very long, so my intention was to avoid having to wait in the queue on Sunday.
In the evening when I had some free time, I was examining my ticket and found that (1) it expired at the end of the day on which it was purchased and (2) I was sold a first-class ticket, even though I had asked for “a ticket,” not a first-class ticket. The price, R5.50, was the same that I have been paying all long, so this is what I have consistently paid for, but I have been sitting in the third-class compartments.
I had been told that the third-class trains were safer because they usually have more people in them. If the richer people are in the first-class trains, they are the ones who are targeted by thieves. Another person told me that the Cape Town trains on platform 2 at the Mutual station were safer than the ones on platform 6 because they are coming from places that he deemed to be safer.
Friday, 31 July 2009
I was up early today and headed to the hotel lobby, where there is not only Internet access, but Skype loaded onto the computers. I logged onto gchat to see if Nick was there. He was! Then I was able to phone him using Skype.
Starting my day that way gave me a lift. It was cold and rainy, but I walked around all morning in a glow of sunshine and warmth because I had spoken to him.
I had a mission for the morning, and that was to find some fabric that I could buy to make bags that will cover wine bottles when they are given as gifts. The only fabric I have seen so far has been on sale at the markets that target tourists. The salespeople in these places are asking R200 (about $26) a meter for their wares, and that is way too high. Since they start at that price, I don’t even feel like negotiating with them. The fabric should be about R40 a meter (about $5), based on what I paid for it when I was living in Mauritania.
When I packed for the weekend, I wanted to minimize the possessions I was taking with me, to make it easier to travel. I chose only one pair of shoes, and the sneakers I had on proved to be the most inappropriate footwear for a rainy day. It didn’t take too long before my feet and socks were soaked.
Fortunately, it also didn’t take too long to find a store that had a huge variety of fabric and notions. The only people shopping in there were locals, as it was way off the beaten tourist path. I found some beautiful fabric at the exact price that I anticipated: R40! And it is manufactured right here in South Africa.
During the day I got a call from Andre, whom I had met at Toastmasters. He wanted me to attend a business seminar that evening. I had already committed to going to services at the Gardens Shul, but the services were going to be over by about 7:00 PM and Andre said that he could pick me up there at that time.
The services were more sparsely attended this week than last, but also enjoyable. I love the men’s choir that accompanies the cantor.
The rabbi’s sermon was about not only loving one person – and I can happily relate to that now that I am in love again – but also in trying to find a way to observe Shabbat. My weekly Shabbat observance is minimal, but I do pay token attention to this weekly day of rest by staying off the computer for twenty-four hours.
By the time 7:00 came, the service was almost but not quite over. I headed out to meet Andre, who arrived shortly after I got out. We headed to the CTICC – the Cape Town International Convention Center, a beautiful set of building with lots of facilities for large meetings.
Andre was cryptic about the purpose, but he did refer to it as a “business building seminar.” When he gave me my ticket, I saw that there was a reference on it to “business attire.” And here I was, wearing what they call “tackies” here (sneakers – the aforementioned running shoes, which were now dry).
It didn’t take too long for me as an audience member to see that what they were talking about was not only selling products, but there were also continual references to sales “teams.” I started to catch on to the fact that this is a multi-level marketing business. Throughout the evening, people who had achieved the “next level” of salesmanship were trotted across the stage and accorded standing ovations.
As the products were introduced they were referred to as being an “online shopping mall.” At one point, the name Amway was mentioned. Then, as it turned out, I learned that all the products – though the name differed from the Amway brand – were produced by that corporation.
One person after the next talked about their dreams for financial freedom and more free time, as well as for the hopes of a secure retirement and a better life for their children.
As I sat there, I realized how un-Shabbat the entire experience was: sitting there with people talking about work and finances.
I don’t have anything against people improving their lives and being successful. The entire thrust, however, was not what I want for myself, with a huge emphasis on five-star hotels, all-you-can-eat buffets, first class travel, expensive cars, large homes, boats, and executive toys.
I was happy that people didn’t ask me to join them. I feel fortunate that I don’t need to spend any more of my life working towards earning money. My retirement income is enough for me because my needs are simple and I am satisfied with what I have. I choose to focus on what I have, which never fails to make me grateful.
Not only that, but I do not want to make calls to friends and family and have the ulterior motive of selling things to them. The people in my life are ones whom I care for, and I never want any of them to be referred to as being in my “upline” or “downline,” as people were referred to by many of those who spoke to the audience that evening.
Saturday, 1 August 2009
I was able to spend much of the day walking and discovering what was available in Cape Town. The stores here start to close at about 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon!
As I was perusing Long Street, I ran into five of my TWA colleagues, who were eating a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We walked around a bit. Two of them had had pairs of boots made, so they were on the way to pick them up.
Sunday, 2 August 2009
The sunny and warm weather has returned! It definitely gives me a lift!
Most of Cape Town shuts down for the weekend, despite the fact that there are still tourists here. There are a few street merchants and a sprinkling of shops open, but there is definitely a diminished population in town.
Doug, a friend of Elizabeth's, is studying at the University of Cape Town for this semester, and we have been in touch, trying to find a time to meet. Today was the day, and he came into Cape Town so that we could spend the afternoon together.
We started by visiting the Castle of Good Hope, a fort that is near the main part of town. From there we went for lunch at a place I have passed several times but where I had not yet eaten: the Eastern Food Bazaar, which specializes in food from the Middle East and India. All the food is halaal and there is no alcohol served. It is a food court, where you pay for your meal at a central register and then take the receipt to the vendor that sells the food you want.
My favorite food is Middle Eastern/Mediterranean. I have never met a plate of hummus and falafel that I didn't like – until today, that is. The hummus was bland and the falafel was dry. I imagine I will go back to this place, but I will try one of the other vendors; one of them had paratha and another had vegetarian curry.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Cathy, the teacher with whom I am working, is out sick with the flu. I was supposed to teach two of her classes today, but that has changed: I am teaching all six of them.
They do things here that would not be acceptable in most high schools I know about in the USA. First of all, teachers have six classes instead of five. Secondly, there are no substitute teachers. When a teacher is absent, they get other teachers who have a free period to cover classes. That means that teachers who are already teaching six periods now get saddled with a seventh one so that they can cover for their colleague. That is what I call overworking the already-overworked.
Another popular strategy is that there are meetings at lunchtime. In San Francisco, the “duty-free lunch” was considered to be a basic human right for all teachers. We all know that there is no free lunch, but how about a free lunch period?
The day has eleven forty-minute instructional periods that run from 8:15 AM to 5:15 PM. There are three periods, a twenty-minute break, four periods, a forty-five-minute lunch, two periods, a twenty-minute break, and then two more periods.
To their credit, the kids were extremely cooperative and friendly. I have not seen any of what you may call an old-fashioned discipline problem from a kid. They always respond to me by adding “sir” at the end of what they say: “Good morning, sir,” “Yes, sir,” “You're welcome, sir.”
Teachers move around and tend to teach in several different classrooms. One of the results of this is that since teachers don't have more permanent links to the classrooms, they tend to be stark and not personalized to the subjects taught in them. In my experience, American teachers tend to view their classrooms as a second home and also get very territorial about them.
Teachers here have to carry around their own supplies: whiteboard markers, erasers, glue sticks, and the like. There is no storage space for these items to be left in the rooms.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Cathy was out again and we used e-mail to arrange for work to give to the kids. She is not the only one sick. Lots of the kids are coughing and listless. One of them referred to it in her writing as “the Leap flu.” Most of the TWA Fellows have had at least a cold, if not worse. So far, I consider myself lucky to have made it unscathed.
The most common advice back at home is for kids to stay home when they are sick. Here, that is not necessarily the best thing to so, as their homes are not well heated. School is warmer than home, so they come in sick, and that exacerbates the problem by spreading the germs.
The morning schedule was thrown out of whack to accommodate a visiting hockey team from England. An assembly was inserted into the schedule and then, in order to make up for that time, the following four periods were changed.
This change in routine was not taken well by many of the teachers, who are concerned about teaching their curriculum and following through on their usual plans.
This is a dynamic with which I was intimately familiar from my own teaching days: administrators changing the schedules to make room for all sorts of programs, frequently at the last minute. As a result, I put forward these three age-old unanswerable questions:
1. Is there a God?
2. What is the meaning of life?
3. Why can’t they just let us teach?
When I mentioned these questions to one of the teachers here, his response was, “You know, I think we can get an answer for the first two.”
(PLEASE NOTE: It is absolutely NOT my intention to disparage Leap School in any way by mentioning this incident and the collective response to it. My point is more on the order of the universality of teachers and their response when the teaching schedules are changed.)
Cathy’s classes went smoothly. The kids are reasonably polite and cooperative. They are teenagers, though, and they try to get away with whatever they can. But I was able to deal with it.
By the end of the school day, the rains had come – and me without a jacket or umbrella. Fortunately, the walk to the lodge from the school is not too far.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Cathy came back to school today and resumed teaching her classes. I taught my group of adult tutors and also checked in with Cathy about the progress we made in her absence.
Cathy told me that one of the kids told her, “Mr. Davidson smiles all the time.” Cathy very kindly gave me some delicious chocolate bars to thank me for stepping in for her.
At lunchtime, several of us assigned to Leap 2 met with Gus, the principal. He wanted us to check in with him to see how things were going.
I met briefly with Steven, who asked me last week if I could work with him in one of his grade 11 English classes. We scheduled that for tomorrow and Friday.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Cathy was out today. She should not have come in yesterday and was simply too ill to return to school. I was able to take over her classes. Fortunately, it was her lightest day of the week, with only three classes to cover.
The classes themselves were easy to handle. There were a lot of other events of the day:
We had a meeting for our upcoming Teacher Development Workshops. These are going to be held the next two Fridays and Saturdays as a joint effort between Leap School staff and Teach With Africa Fellows, as a way of having a meaningful impact on the communities served by the Leap Schools. The idea is for the teachers of the feeder schools to come to these workshops so that they can make an improvement in their instruction.
I am part of the team that is preparing a workshop about Speaking and Writing. We had our second meeting on this topic and have a rough idea of what we will present. Our class will be on Saturday the 15th.
Though I had volunteered to be a part of this group, I have somehow been propelled into the position of being in charge of it. As such, I have had to face a situation that may prove to be uncomfortable to one of our TWA Fellows who is joining us this weekend.
This person has spent a significant amount of time preparing his contribution for this workshop. His focus was for all of the participants to create poems in response to a video that he is going to prepare when he gets here. At our first meeting, I copied the explanation of the work that he had already done. All five Leap teachers decided that the students here need more work on their prose writing than on poetry writing.
The Leap teachers had very different ideas as to the way they want this workshop to be run. In response to what they said, I had to reflect back to the rationale for inclusion of the word "with" in the name Teach With Africa. This word was quite deliberately chosen as a means of showing collaboration between the two groups of people involved: those of us from the USA and the local community.
What made the most sense to me was to listen to the local teachers who feel that they want this workshop to go into a different direction. When this Fellow arrives during the weekend, I will have to inform him of the change of plans, based on the needs of the local teachers.
After that, Leap 2 had our staff meeting and then we headed to Langa for the HIV Prevention Awareness Day. The bus that transported us there was playing music by Screechine Dion. I do not understand the Africans' love of her voice, but I have experienced it to be overwhelmingly admiring of it. Yuck!
The assembly was held at the Johnson Ngwevela Hall, also known as the Langa Civic Hall. It was supposed to run from 3:30 to 4:25. Schedules being what they are here, it started a half-hour late and went an hour longer, even when the final few bits were removed from the program.
The audience was amazingly disrespectful during the entire presentation. Unsupervised elementary school kids were talking and walking around the auditorium during the entire time. I have never seen a more uninvolved school-aged crowd. It didn't help that there were other activities going on simultaneously in the same room, such as the serving of food at the back of the room. It was agonizing to be part of the audience, as it was not possible to understand the proceedings. Many of the adults were certainly not good role models for the youngsters. The Leap students, who made up a considerable part of the audience, were well-behaved, yet with everyone else talking during the program, many of them followed suit.
Teach With Africa presented a song about Rosa Parks. The relationship between her and AIDS awareness was tangential. The idea was that she stood up for what she believed in and that those in the audience should stand their ground when it comes to remaining safe against pressure to do unsafe things concerning AIDS.
I have heard several more local pronunciations that have left me puzzled:
party is pronounced "potty."
other is pronounced "ahdah."
father is pronounced "fahdah."
third is pronounced "ted."
dirty is pronounced "dettah."
learning is pronounced "lanning."
I thought that I may be catching the same cold that is going around. Zicam to the rescue! Good thing I brought some of that with me!
Friday, 7 August 2009
Cathy was out again today. The students greeted me warmly. One of the boys early in the morning greeted me by saying, "Sir, you're always smiling." I was thinking about that. So many of these children are smiling and enthusiastic themselves; it's hard not to smile back when I see their happy faces.
I haven't manifest any further symptoms of the illness floating around. It seems that the Zicam has doing its job.
In the evening I returned to Cape Town to attend services at the synagogue.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Our Teacher Training Workshops continued. I was not able to attend yesterday afternoon because I was teaching, but I did attend the morning session today, which was about differentiated learning.
The main thrust behind the workshop was to teach the teachers about the Multiple Intelligences and the learning modalities of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.
These are topics that I have been trying to teach to teachers in what is now three African countries, as well as India. The presenters did a great job and I wonder if the teachers in the room will be able to use the information in their classrooms.
I definitely have a cold: I can feel it in my body, and yet it is not bothering me nearly as much as it would ordinarily. The medication is doing a great job.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
It's another clear, warm, and sunny day. We have certainly been getting the great weather. Capetonians are referring to this as summer weather, but I think that it is warmer during their summers.
I headed into the town by train to have lunch with two members of Couchsurfing.com. One of them lives in Bellville, a suburb, and when I told him that I had heard about a market that is held at the train station in Bellville, he said that he had never been there.
Neither of these people had ever been on any of the trains here. It seems that very few white people do, indeed, use the trains. They tend to have their own cars and rely on them.
At the station, when I was heading to the track for my return train, I was stopped at the turnstile by the agent posted there. My ticket said "MUTUAL TO CAPE TOWN SINGLE METRO" and she did not let me in because it was supposed to say "CAPE TOWN TO MUTUAL."
These posts are not always staffed. In all the times I have been using the trains I have been asking for two single tickets and not paying attention to the order in which they are printed.
At the issuing ticket booth, the agent could not exchange the MUTUAL TO CAPE TOWN ticket for a CAPE TOWN TO MUTUAL ticket, so I bought another one. At R4.20, it is just a bit more than fifty cents, so that was no big deal. But I definitely have to pay attention to that in the future.
Monday, 10 August 2009
We began our day with a breakfast meeting with John Gilmour at the lodge. He had a PowerPoint presentation for us, showing graphics that indicated the need for much work that has to be done in South Africa and the rest of this continent. I will not go into it here, as words will be incapable of describing the significance of his words and his images. I am going to look into the possibility of getting this linked to the Teach With Africa website.
Today is a national holiday: National Women's Day. It commemorates the day in 1956 when 20,000 women marched against the Union Building in Pretoria to protest the then-existing "pass laws," under which non-white citizens had to prove that they were allowed in white areas by showing their passes, also refered to as passports.
Each of the Leap Schools held separate celebrations of the day. The school wants the students to have not just a day off, but a day of understanding its significance. We first went to Langa, where the Leap 1 group was, and then a smaller group of us went to the township of Crossroads for the Leap 2 gathering.
For almost two hours, there were speeches, dancers, choirs, drumming, and prayers with much of the Leap 2 student body in attendance, as well as community members in the audience. This was a tightly-run program with an attentive and appreciative audience.
The speeches and all other introductions were in Xhosa, so I can't say that I understood the words, but the joyous spirit shone through.
Towards the end of the program, Gus, the principal of Leap 2, addressed the audience and conveyed the two reasons for our being together:
(1) to remember to commemmorate the roles of women in South African society, and to thank those mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters for their contributions to our lives.
(2) to remember the 20,000 women who marched in 1956 to protest the inequality that existed then and to recognize also the challenges that women still face in South Africa, with the high incidences of rape, physical abuse, and the non-sharing of equality with men.
In explaining these, Gus challenged the Leap students to talk about their lives, and in so expressing their lives, he explained that the change in South Africa begins with them. If they act differently, then the needed changes will continue.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
I began the day by learning on the Internet that the Peace Corps program in Mauritania was suspended. The number one priority of the Peace Corps is the safety of its Volunteers in whatever country it is working in. Recent events, including a suicide bomber in front of the French embassy, have gotten to the point where the PCVs are not considered to be safe now.
The current PCVs were evacuated to Senegal last week. When the news came about the evacuation being permanent, they were not even allowed to go back to their sites to say good-bye to their friends and host families.
I was with Cathy for her five-in-a-row English classes first thing this morning.
She came up with a fabulous idea for the kids in her foundation (grade 9) classes: having them make creatures out of clay. It was an activity that called for the creative energies within them, had them integrate the artistic with writing, and had them totally engaged at all times.
It was a joy to be part of. Cathy felt that it far surpassed her expectations.
In the afternoon I went with Jenn and Mona to Cape Town. It was their first time on the train.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
There was a strike today by drivers of taxis and buses. When this happens, many of the kids have a hard time getting to school. Some of the kids at Leap walked three hours this morning in order to get to school.
The strike is against the government, which is trying to organize and regulate the taxi industry, which has historically been very loosely run, and without any governmental controls. Since Cape Town will be one of the hosts of next year's big international soccer tournament, they are trying to clean things up so that the world sees a well-organized city.
The drivers apparently are happy the way things are going, and they are resisting any attempts to have any body oversee them. Without an effective and pervasive mass transit system, many of the people who live in the Cape Town area - and especially the poor blacks in the townships - are dependent upon the taxis to get to work.
I should add that "taxi" is a much more inclusive term than that which we are used to in Western cultures. Here, it also refers to minivans that run more or less fixed routes, similar to the way buses run.
Many of the teachers are stressed now. It is time for them to get what they call their "mark readings," which corresponds to what we know as grading periods. They have grades to tally up and hand in.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
I was fascinated to participate in the session that Leap School refers to as social responsibility, which compares well to what we call community service in the USA.
I accompanied the group that helped in a créche, which is what they call a daycare center. There were about eighty adorable little kids at the Nomzamo Educare Centre, located at the Rainbow Multi-Purpose Centre in the township of Guguletu. I was ready to take home three or four of them!
The Leap students helped the little ones to make masks out of paper plates. Some of the older kids (about 4 years old) were able to paint theirs, but the littler ones used crayon to scribble on theirs.
Friday, 14 August 2009
I went in the evening to a different synagogue than the one I had gone to during the last three weeks. Joy had found this one online via a friend connection, and called the rabbi to speak to him.
This one varied in several ways from the Gardens Shul: a small and unasuming house in a suburb, as opposed to the large and imposing building in the city. Another difference was immediately apparent, as the men and women were seated together.
The feeling was much more like the Reform synagogues with which I am familiar at home. The congregation is one of three under the same umbrella, with locations in three areas around the Cape. This is the smallest of the three.
After the service, the rabbi put us in contact with some people who gave us a ride home.
Saturday, 15 August 2009
The big day had finally come: the teacher training workshop for which we have been preparing since June.
My session, entitled Speaking and Writing, went extremely well. I served mostly as the coordinator and emcee, introducing the other presenters. Gene, a TWA Fellow, began by reading two poems: one that he, an American, had written, and the other by a South African writer.
By listening to the poems, the others had to determine which had been written by the American and which by the South African. In doing so, they were thinking about the theme of the day: finding one's voice.
The other sections of our workshop went as planned, and all the participants seemed to have a good time as well as receive material that they will be able to use in their classrooms.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
During the week, Pete, one of the Leap 2 teachers spoke to me in the staff room and, noting that my time here was coming to a close, asked me if there was anything that I had not seen or done but had still wanted to do.
As a matter of fact, there was: I have been trying in vain to get to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. All the tour companies in Cape Town were either too full for their day trips, too empty (as it is low season), or take two or three days to make the trip.
I asked Ashfaak, one of our frequent drivers who has a minivan that seats thirteen, if he could take us. He gave me a price and when I gave the details to my TWA colleagues, the idea fell flat. So when I told Pete that that was where I wanted to go, he told me that he had never been there himself and that he would be happy to make the drive, which is about two and a half hours in each direction.
It's hard to say what was so compelling to me about going there. I have already been to the westernmost point in Africa (in Senegal) and the northernmost (in Tunisia). Things are not looking good for getting to the easternmost (in Somalia) anytime soon. It's hard to know if and when I will ever come back to South Africa, so I wanted to go for it as long as I was this close.
It was a perfect day: warm, sunny, pleasant conversation with Pete all day, and fabulous scenery both en route and there. There are plenty of photos posted to my website, so be sure to check them out. (Go to http://www.jaydavidson.com/ and click on the Photos button.)
Monday, 17 August 2009
It is overcast and cloudy today. I am happy and fortunate that the weather waited one day to get like that, as yesterday was so brilliant in many ways.
There is a train strike now, which has had a negative impact on school attendance. The school is located adjacent to the tracks, so I have seen trains go by occasionally during the school day.
I got a call from Mohamed the tailor who is in downtown Cape Town. He wanted me to know that he had some items finished for me. Since the trains were running, albeit on an infrequent schedule, I decided that I'd better go down there and pick up what I could, as even this minimal service may not be available during the rest of the week.
The first difference I noticed at the Mutual train station was that the ticket window was closed. There was a sign announcing a Sunday schedule.
Once in Cape Town, there was no staff there to check for tickets. All the ticket booths at the main station were also closed. Whoever was running the trains was doing it for free. I am not sure what the thinking is behind this. Maybe it's along the lines that people need to get to work.
Once I had the items from Mohamed, I returned to the station and saw that there was a fairly big problem to solve: the notice board that always announces train departures was unlit. There was no way to find out the destinations of the trains on the various tracks. I asked around and found out where the trains were that were headed to Strand or Wellington, the two destinations I can use.
Since nobody was paying for their tickets, the first class trains were packed. I guess this was one of the few times that the people who usually sit in third class can find out what first class is like.
The difference between first and third class is this: in first class, the seats are padded and are arranged in pairs facing each other, perpendicular to the windows, with a center aisle; in third class the hard plastic seats are alongside the windows, which creates a large open area in the center of the train.
The first several trains were packed, so I walked to the end of the train where I saw several of the last cars had available seats. If people had walked back a little further, they would have been able to sit.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Jenn, one of our TWA Fellows, left today. She is a teacher and has to get back for the beginning of her school year. We had a nice send-off for her at lunchtime in the Leap 2 staff room.
It was a cold and rainy day, which is what the typical weather pattern is for this time of the year. Fortunately for us, that has not been the norm!
In the evening, a group of LEAPSAs (Leap School Alumni) came over to the lodge, which made the place even more crowded and noisy than usual.
As I retreated to my room, I realized that something I have been dealing with here, especially in the lodge, is that I am an introvert who is with a group of people comprised predominantly of extroverts.
The most succinct distinction I have heard is that extroverts get their energy by being with other people, whereas introverts get theirs from being alone.
I enjoy working and being with other people, but it has to be focused and meaningful, such as work. This means I can and do fully function in school during the day. When the work day is over, though, I am tired from all the interactions and I need quiet. When I am at home, this means being by myself and rarely even turning on music.
That is what happened this evening: an already noisy and crowded house got even noisier and more crowded. I spent the evening in my room and felt much more relaxed there than I would have been if I were with all the people downstairs - and I should add that all the people downstairs were speaking in particularly loud voices so that they could be heard over the loud music.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
The sun returned today, but it was on the cool side. In any event, I was fine outside with my long-sleeved shirt and sweatshirt, so it wasn't that cold.
Not much else to say for today, so I will just leave it at that.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
In the afternoon, I attended the weekly staff meeting with the teachers and principal of Leap 2. Part of the meeting was set up so that we could give mutual response to each other after our now almost completed two months here.
The Leap teachers highlighted the following as the strengths of TWA Fellows:
enthusiastic,have good teamwork within our group, collaborate well with Leap staff, have affection for and interest in children, are punctual, are spontaneous, are adjustable/flexible, reflect on our actions, are articulate, are committed, work hard, are willing to help and be part of the community, are sensitive, help Leap teachers to reflect on their own work, with the goal of self-improvement have helped Leap teachers to look at South Africa curriculum, with the result being that many S. A. teachers now realize that the country's curriculum is quite good, have a symbiotic relationship (with Leap) that has developed organically.
That's a lot of good stuff, I think!
As with any relationship, there is also room for growth. The following were listed as points for improvement:
What are you here for anyway? What were the goals? We were never sure. It's hard to know if you're achieving your goals if you don't know what they were in the first place.
There was a lot of confusion at the beginning of the program.
There were some observations done that didn't involve any feedback.
Some teachers are missing out because not all Leap teachers have TWA Fellows to work with. (There were not enough TWA Fellows to go around.)
There has not been enough evaluation – only this at the end; it could have been done in two-week intervals leading up to the end of the time together.
Suggestions, questions, other points to ponder:
Will the next group start off the same way or will there be a way to communicate information, so that there is not a sense of re-inventing the wheel next year?
We need liaison work during the intervals between TWA visits, to keep everyone connected.
TWA needs to look at roles that can take place in feeder schools.
Workshops need to be looked at in a different way for next year if you want involvement of feeder school teachers – possibly take them to the feeder schools for presentation.
Are TWA Fellows reflecting on their own experiences so they can see possibilities for changes when they return to their schools in the USA?
When will Leap teachers get to visit in American schools? How about a TWA that means “Teach With America”? Can there be an exchange teaching situation?
*****
In addition to that, it was also a Toastmasters day. I had lunch with Liz from the Cape Town club, which meets twice a month. She and I had socialized one Sunday, when she invited me to spend the afternoon with her. Since she works at Old Mutual, the insurance company located between the lodge and the school, it was easy to get away and do this at lunchtime.
I had to miss the last meeting because it was held on a Wednesday evening, the same night as the one when we have a meeting of our TWA Fellows at the lodge.
In any event, I have failed to achieve one of my goals here, and that was to get one of the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Programs started at Leap. I had hoped to get a local Toastmaster committed to the idea, but I simply have not had enough contact hours with them to be able to find such a person. Most of the clubs here meet once a month; some meet twice. At home, most clubs meet weekly, which is a schedule that would have enabled me to get to know people better and try to get something like this started.
In the evening I went to the Pinelands club, which is smaller than the Cape Town club. In any event, it was a pleasant meeting and I enjoyed seeing the membership again.
Friday, 21 August 2009
One of the hallmarks of the Leap Schools is that they hold a weekly assembly called community meeting, usually referred to as "community." Leap 1 and Leap 2 hold these separately. The "community" is totally student run. Each tutor class (which is something similar to what we would call a homeroom) takes turn running the community.
Today, it was the turn of the tenth grade class with whom I have been working, as it is Cathy's English class.
Components of the community can vary: poems, short speeches, themes, choir, dancing -all arranged by the students of the class that puts it together.
The theme for the meeting today was the equality of women. Something we have seen before at many of the communities has been gumboot dancing. During this dance, the performers wear large rubber boots. This type of dance has its history in the miners of South Africa - the men who have dug the riches from the nation's earth.
As such, the only gumboot dancers I have ever seen, before today, were males. But having made the statement of equality of men and women, four girls made their way to the area in front of the audience to perform their gumboot dance.
This would be hard to describe to somebody who has never seen it, but the dance has a lot of stomping, bending over to slap the boots, and occasional shouts, all of which is done in unison. It is quite vigorous and appears to take a lot of stamina to keep up with.
As their rhythmic feet stomped and they shouted, they mesmerized the audience. In addition, the women who work in the kitchen, which is adjacent to the canteen where this was taking place, could hear that there was something unusual going on. I have never seen them come over to observe any portion of a community, but this was something that attracted them.
When they were finished, they brought the house down. Everyone had been excited and energized by the performance.
Another feature of community is called "open time," which is an unstructured period during which any of the students or teachers can stand up to speak their mind. Talking can refer to anything that had happened during the community, a response to the weekly theme, or simply something that a person wants to have everyone hear.
I had never, until now, taken the opportunity to make any comments during open time, but the gumboot dancers had moved me to speak. I told the audience that during the week I had seen the girls walking around carrying the gumboots and I had told them that I had never seen girls do that dance - only boys. I had asked if girls do it to? I didn't know because I am a newcomer to their country.
I spoke of my belief that women who are strong are no less women, and men who are gentle and kind are no less men. I don't know if that had any effect on them, but they listened quietly as I spoke. This was to be the last community for us Leap 2 teachers, as we depart next week on Thursday.
*****
In the late afternoon I went to Cape Town so that I could attend services at the Gardens Shul. Once again, it would be my last time.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Leap School provides tutoring to its students on Saturday mornings, and we TWA Fellows are supposed to go and help. Rooms are designated as having focus on math, science, or completing homework.
Not being able to help with any math or science, I went to the homework room to see if anyone needed assistance with English or writing. The only kids who showed up came into the room to take chairs that were needed for another room.
The morning is structured into a study session, break, and then another study session. After the break, when still nobody turned up for help, I headed over to the Howard Centre to get a haircut.
This was my second haircut here. As with many things, the prices are much cheaper here than at home. At R116, including tip (about $15), I have gone to a nice salon at the shopping centre. At home, this would cost about triple or quadruple the price.
After that, I went to Cape Town for a few hours. When I arrived at the Mutual train station I saw that the ticket booth was closed. This could mean a number of things, such as the go-slow still going on or maybe even that the ticket window is just closed. If they are collecting tickets at the turnstiles in Cape Town, I wouldn't have one, so I would have to buy one before I am allowed to leave the station. This has never happened to me, but I have heard tell of it.
True enough, they were collecting tickets at the other end. When I bought mine, I asked for a round trip so that I would not have to wait in the long line later on. But they sold me only a one way ticket.
Upon my return, there was a line of about thirty people, and only one of the dozen or so ticket windows open. We slowly were making our way to buy tickets when suddenly that sole open window closed. Now what?
I looked to the turnstiles to see how it would be possible to enter the train platform area without a ticket, and I saw that they were not operating any longer, but the doors next to them were open, allowing free passage in both directions for people heading to and from the trains.
It's a funny way to run a business, if you ask me.
Sunday, 23 August 2009
I went into Cape Town to spend time with Barry from Austin. We met through NAPO, the National Association of Professional Organizers, in the USA. He is here for a local conference of the South Africa organizers, along with three others from the USA. It was good to see him and meet the others.
Monday, 24 August 2009
I taught a lesson to Cathy's tenth grade class today: the Shelley poem "Ozymandias."
There was, of course, the poem itself and the vocabulary. But something came up that was totally unrelated to the poem. I informed the class that I had learned the poem when I was in tenth grade myself, and fifteen years old, as they are.
I gave them what I thought was a simple math problem to work out: I am now 62 years old. If I was 15 when I learned this poem, what year was it when I studied it? I thought that it would be a simple matter to work this out, especially since this school has a focus on math.
Guesses started coming forth from the kids: 1947? 1957? 1961?
In the entire class of eighteen, one student was able to come up with the correct answer. I looked at her paper and there it all was, neatly written out. (This system will not allow me to write it all lined up the way I saw it on her paper, so I will have to explain what I saw.)
She had written 2009, subtracted 62 from it and gotten 1947. To that, she added 15 and got 1962.
After that class, when I was in the staff lounge, I explained the outcome to two of the Leap School math teachers and a TWA Fellow whose specialty is math. What I learned is that there is a greater emphasis on computational skills than on problem-solving. One of the local teachers, an American who has also taught in the USA, told me that he has been teaching problem-solving to his Foundation classes (the equivalent of what we call ninth grade). He suggested that I ask them the same question and let him know how they did.
In the afternoon, when we had the Foundation classes, I did just that. Sure enough, most of the kids not only came up with the correct answer, but did so in significantly less time than the tenth-graders in the morning.
One of the kids showed me how he had done it, and I found his approach to be most unusual. He started with 62, subtracted 15, and got 47. Then he subtracted the 47 from 2009 and got 1962.
In the process of talking with the teachers about this situation, I learned about a fascinating approach to the process of accepting new students into the Foundation classes. They call it TTT, which stands for test, teach, test.
What they do is give the kids a test. Then, after they collect it, they go over it with all the kids and teach the concepts that they need to know while taking the test. Then they give the test again. Part of the scoring for each kid involves comparing the results of the first and second tests, which gives them an indication of how well the kids can be taught.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The highlight of the day was the afternoon presentation given by Cathy's tenth-graders. They wanted to do something to say good-bye to me. They prepared a performance that saw them coming to the front of the room, one at a time, to explain the characters from a book that they had read earlier this year.
After the performance, there was a celebratory party. The class gave me a copy of the book that they had read and Cathy gave me a colorful bowl.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
I spent my final lessons with the three groups of students in Cathy's classes - the two Foundation (grade 9) classes and the one grade 10. At one point, we were talking about homonyms and words that are homophones. The kids started to suggest homophones that they know of. First up, one of the kids said, "Bed and bed - like he is a bed person and the bed that you sleep on." (Yes, these words are pronounced the same here!) Another kid chimed in by adding, "and the bed that flies in the sky," meaning, of course, "bird," which is pronounced the same by many people here!
My favorite, though, was these two sound-alike (to these kids) words: "bitch, the female dog, and the bitch where you go swimming."
There were plenty of opportunities for them to ask me questions. They wanted to know if my time here met my expectations, what I would be doing when I get home, if I am coming back, how South Africa and the USA were different, how I enjoyed my stay here, what I enjoyed the most, and if it would be possible to get a university scholarship to study in the USA.
Leap 2 usually holds its community meetings on Friday, but they had an extra one today so that they could say good-bye to those of us who had been working with them. The choir was particularly amazing today. There was also gumboot dancing and open time, when people got to speak individually in front of the audience.
I have been trying to think of the kinds of things that are so impressive to me concerning the choir. First of all, the melange of voices (two male and two female parts) produces a rich and varied sound. In another way, though, I love the way that the choir represents a microcosm of society, in that each person has her or his part and knows her or his place. Individually, the voices may be enjoyable, but it is the strength of everyone singing together that produces the harmony that I enjoy as much as I do. It's the idea that "together we are better."
During open time, many of the kids got up to mention particular teachers and what they have enjoyed about us. Luvo, one of my Foundation kids, managed to mention everyone, and concluded by saying, "Last, but not least, is Mr. Davidson. Every time I see him he is either smiling or singing."
If you saw all these smiling faces every day, you'd be smiling and singing, too.
After lunch, Pete took me for a ride to the campus of the University of Cape Town, which I had never seen, and which is his alma mater. It is a lovely campus with a magnificent setting on a hillside.
In the evening, there was another program at the school. This one was primarily for adults, but it featured the choirs and gumboot dancing by the kids from Leap 1. A main focus for the formal program was the interrelationships among Leap Schools, the Newlands Rotary Club, and TWA. Newlands is a local club and it has partnered with a Rotary Club in the San Francisco Bay Area to offer considerable financial support to Leap Schools.
Following the program, the kids went home and the adults, including the LEAPSAs, stayed for dinner. But before we had a chance to eat, there was a lengthy "open time" during which people had opportunities to express their feelings about each other and the impact that our time here has had.
Several of the Learning Centre tutors were in attendance and they had some lovely parting gifts for me: a batik cloth and a wooden statuette.
Several of the speakers mentioned how we TWA Fellows had changed their perceptions of Americans, whom they used to think were boastful, arrogant, and overconfident. But with genuine sharing of ourselves here, they now understand us to be different from that stereotype.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Time to pack and head out! Everyone is trying to squeeze their original possessions and their recent acquisitions into their baggage.
My situation is just the opposite in the I arrived with two checked pieces of luggage and am leaving with one. One of my bags is all canvas, so I was able to roll it up and pack it inside of the other one.
Something I have been doing for many years has enabled me to leave with less stuff than I came with: the majority of clothing I brought with me is staying behind.
As I was packing in June, looking through my closet for clothes to take, I saw that I had four pairs of navy blue pants. Nobody needs four pairs of navy blue pants! I never wear them at home! So those came with me, and every day here I have worn one of them. I am going home in the newest pair, which had been sitting in my closet at home waiting to get hemmed. On another pair, I had the bottoms cut off so that they could be made into shorts. With the fabric taken from the legs, Mohamed the tailor made cargo pockets for them.
A few weeks ago, on one of the rare cold days, I was wearing a jacket when I went to visit Mohamed. He told me that he liked it. That was easy: I was going to leave it behind anyway, so I gave it to him. Though it was at least twenty years old, it looked new because it has been hanging, unworn, in my closet all this time.
So I had the clothing I needed while I was here, wore it, and when I gave it away it was still in good shape.
*****
We headed to the airport at 3:30, which is a bit earlier than I would choose to go for the 6:35 flight, but that's the way it goes when you travel with a group.
There are at least three people staying behind to continue to travel within South Africa.
Everything was smooth at the airport (since we were so early to check in). There were lots of empty seats on the plane, which was nice since it allowed us to stretch out a bit.
As we sat on the runway for what seemed to be a long time, the captain came onto the intercom to announce that one of his indicator lights for the fuel pump was not working, and that we needed to go back to the gate so that the mechanics could sort it out.
There were multiple announcements to follow, mostly along the lines that they would give us information when they had it. Eventually, after two hours on the plane, they informed us that we should take our belongings and return to the boarding area.
After another hour and a half there - by now, it was 10:00 PM - we were told that we would be taken to hotels in Cape Town to spend the night, and that we would fly out tomorrow, Friday, a full twenty-four hours later. This meant not only leaving the airport, but we had already officially been stamped out of South Africa, so we had to go through immigration and passport control again in order to be admitted into the country.
Once we collected our belongings, they told us that we would be going to one of two hotels in Cape Town. One was in the main part of town and the other was at the Waterfront. I have been to the Waterfront two times and find it to be nothing other than a shopping mall, so I boarded the bus going to town.
We got vouchers for meals at the hotel and were also allowed to make a phone call.
I checked into my hotel at midnight. It was a long day!
Friday, 28 August 2009
The hotel had a nice buffet for breakfast. I walked around the town a bit and headed back to the hotel to pack up, have lunch, and then start the process all over again at 2:30 this afternoon, leaving for the airport a ludicrous four hours before the flight.
I was eating lunch with one of the other passengers when another person from the flight came by and said, "Did you hear? We are staying another night."The front desk clerk confirmed this. I had already packed and brought my luggage to the lobby. Now I schlepped it back upstairs to the same room that I had just vacated.
The rumor was that tomorrow, Saturday, the flight would leave earlier than the previously scheduled time. There was no fax yet from Delta. We shall see.
Somebody I know had a good response for situations like this:
Well, at least nobody died!
You really have to agree that even though this is an annoying delay, nobody was hurt in the process. And I could think of worse places in which to spend an extra two nights.
Summary and observations
Before I came here I had visited sixteen other African countries for various amounts of time. In the order in which I visited/lived there, they have been: Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, Mali, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Egypt.
South Africa, my seventeenth African country, is different in many ways and also has some similarities. Mind you, I have to put forth a disclaimer: I have been in only one province of South Africa, and that is the Western Cape, where Cape Town is located. I have heard Cape Town referred to as being "the whitest city in Africa." That being said, though, there are many things, even here, that are especially different from the other places I have experienced in Africa.
How South Africa is different from other parts of Africa that I have seen
There are many white Africans. In addition to natives of South Africa, these include people who are from places such as Zimbabwe and Zambia. Whereas in other African countries, the white people are usually embassy workers, aid workers, or foreign volunteers, it boils down to the fact that in those other places they are expats. Here, they are Africans. They were born here and they live here for their lifetimes, rather than for a short period of time because of their temporary work.
There are large areas of paved roads, and the roads are in good condition. I have not seen areas with unpaved roads here or roads that are falling apart.
Entire neighborhoods are well-developed - not just the random building or block. Granted, these are mostly places where white people live.
Schools are in better condition. Most of the other schools I have seen in other countries have no windows or broken windows, and are pitifully fitted out.
There are functioning trains as part of the urban transport system and they run on a reliable schedule. In other places I have been, there are either taxis, minivans, or buses. In other places, there may be trains that carry people on longer hauls and they are frequently unreliable.
There is a visible, varied, and widespread Jewish population. In some places (like Cairo and Tunis), there may be one synagogue for the entire community, and it is not highly populated, as the Jewish communities are dwindling. Here, there are not only many Jews, but they run the gamut of affiliations, from Orthodox to the local equivalence of Reform.
English is more widespread. Most signage is in English. In some cases, there is bilingual signage (English with Afrikaans) and in some cases trilingual (with Xhosa). But overall, English predominates, from signage to grocery product labeling.
People are more scantily dressed than in other African countries. In other African countries, the rule seems to be that people fully cover their body contours, along the lines of Muslim modesty. Here, there are also Muslims, but the general population does not follow suit. You see people in shorts. There are also billboards advertising underwear, so you see scantily-clad models in public, which is a first for me in Africa.
People smile for photos here. In West Africa, you see mostly blank expressions, as they have never gotten the whole, "Say cheese" mindset.
There are pornography shops. I'm certainly not saying that this is a good thing. It's just that you simply don't see these in other places I have been, as opposed to the many "Adult World" shops here.
How South Africa is similar to other parts of Africa that I have seen
There are great disparities between wealth and poverty. The most noticeable aspect of it here is that it is along racial lines.
Many illnesses are related to poverty. These include tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS.
Concepts about time are fuzzy. People talk about "African time." There is nowhere near the slavish relationship to time that Westerners have.
People are used to being close together. They have different ideas than we do concerning the way they keep a physical distance from each other. They are used to having a lot of people around and being in close contact. One of the ways that this manifests is that when they bump into you - or you into them - they seem not even to notice, and one rarely ever hears another person acknowledge that by saying, "Excuse me" or, "Sorry."
The motorists have blatant and total disregard for pedestrians. Just watch out for them, because they will not stop for you if you are crossing the street. The motorist is king (or queen) of the road, and pity the pedestrian who attempts to get in the way.
Monday, April 13, 2009
When the generation and technology gaps collide
When I was downtown last Wednesday I headed over to Tu Lan, a slightly-bigger-than-hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant on Sixth Street, just a few doors from Market. Having recently spent a month in Vietnam, I was looking forward to recapturing a slice of the frenetic activity and delicious food that I had experienced there.
Tu Lan's patrons reflect a huge range of humanity: down-and-out Sixth Street habitués, nearby office workers, tourists, and a mix of local cognoscenti aware of the restaurant's frequent appearances on the various "Best of" lists (2008 Bay Guardian Best Cheap Restaurant). The one common denominator of these connoisseurs is their appreciation of a tasty meal served up in huge portions by a team of cooks that never pauses from its culinary activity, all of which takes place inches away from the counter.
This little place has such a devoted following that it is not always easy to find a table during lunchtime. The entry area is adjacent to the cashier, who usually has a fistful of bills in her hand (no credit cards accepted), and a congregation of people who are either waiting to be seated, paying their bills, or biding their time until their take-out orders are ready.
It's a place that is sorely in need of a make-over, but the Catch 22 in doing so is that most customers would probably feel that a sanitized Tu Lan would lose its charm. Everything about its furnishings is well-used. Overall, it is clean enough not to have been shut down by the Health Department (having scored a 92 out of 100 during its most recent visit Food Inspection Report), but sorely in need of an industrial floor-to-ceiling steam cleaning to divest it from the grease, some of which has probably been lingering since the Nixon Administration.
Single diners have some flexibility in seating, as there is a counter with five stools, and the staff will also ask if you are willing to be seated with a lone diner who has a spare seat at a table for two.
When it was my turn to be seated, there was a twenty-something guy, also alone, right behind me. They asked us if we would share a table for two and we both agreed.
Each of us waved away the menus when the waiter arrived with them, as we were familiar with its contents and knew exactly what we wanted. My tablemate ordered his by number (40); I didn't know the number of my item - tofu salad - so I requested it by name.
In an attempt to initiate small talk, I asked him, "Is that what you always get?" He at first monosyllabically replied, "Yes," but then went on to explain that it was beef with mixed vegetables.
He then proceded to take a hand-held device from his pocket (i-Pod? Blackberry? cell phone? I have no idea.). My ambidextrous multitasking tablemate managed to manipulate the chopsticks in his right hand and this gadget in his left during the entire meal. His gaze remained downward, to this object and to his food, for the duration of our brief time together.
I didn't have any such device with me. My only reading material was this guy: his gold-rimmed glasses, plaid cotton shirt, tan windbreaker, silver wedding ring, dark blonde hair that may have had an encounter with a comb as recently as, oh, last weekend.
When I completed my salad, prepared to pay the bill, and left the table, I didn't see any point in saying good-bye to him. First of all, we hadn't made any kind of personal connection. Furthermore, I felt that anything I said, no matter how brief, would be an interruption to whatever it was that he was doing.
So, you might ask, what is my point?
As few as ten years ago, two such people would have had, at the very least, a rudimentary conversation asking and answering such questions as: Do you come here often? Do you work nearby? What kind of work do you do? What part of town do you live in?
Okay, okay. I look at these questions and I realize that they are bullshit, pointless, meaningless. Yet I feel that we are losing a bit of our humanity when we can't even have such a conversation with a stranger because of the devices we (a) hold in our hands or (b) stick in our ears.
It struck me: maybe I simply wasn't his type. Maybe he'd have been sociable if I were. He certainly wasn't my type, but that wouldn't have prevented me from entering into social intercourse with him.
Two days later, I spent Friday evening with friends, one of whom was visiting from out of town. Before the end of the evening, Julia, the visitor, expressed interest in seeing some of the sights the next day, Saturday, and I agreed to go along.
It's always enjoyable spending time with this vivacious young woman who has a bright outlook on everything she does. I hadn't seen her since her wedding last Memorial Day, and there was lots of news to catch up with.
The next morning, I waited in vain for a call from her. I held back in calling because I thought, Hey, she's on vacation, so maybe she's sleeping late.
When I hadn't heard from her by 11:10, I called her cell phone. Oddly, a man with a foreign accent answered, quickly explaining that this was, indeed, Julia's phone, which she'd left it in his taxi the previous night. Realizing that she had left her phone behind, she had call her phone from a friend's phone earlier that morning, he had answered the call, and she arranged to call back at 3:30 in the afternoon, which would be the time he would be going to work for the day. Then, they would be able to meet so she could get her phone.
"Call her after 4:00," he advised.
And lose the day? No, there had to be another way to contact her. But what was it?
We do have mutual friends here, but she wasn't staying with any of them.
As I explained the dilemma to my housemate, he made a suggestion: call the taxi driver again (Julia's number). She must have called him from her friend's phone. That number would be retained on the phone. Ask him to give it to you, and then you will be able to reach Julia.
Great idea, but the man did not know how to retrieve the number. Back to square one.
I called Julia's husband in Washington, hoping that he would know with whom she was staying. No luck, as my call went to voicemail. All I could do was leave a message.
I told my housemate, I'm in the phone book. I'm in Information. All she has to do is check there, and she can get my number.
In a revelation, my clever housemate, just a few years junior to my 61, said, "She's younger than we are. They don't do things like that." And then he asked, "Did you check your e-mail? Maybe she wrote to you there."
In point of fact, no, I hadn't checked my e-mail. Saturday is my day off the computer, my weekly reminder that I don't need more of it, but less.
My course of action was clear: turn on the computer and check the e-mail.
And that is exactly how Julia came to make contact with me: by sending me an e-mail that included the cell phone number of the friend she was with. I called, we made our arrangements, and spent the afternoon together.
As we discussed the situation, I explained that she could have looked me up in the phone book or called 411. Her reply: "I never would have thought of that."
Wouldn't you call that a manifestation of the generation gap?
That afternoon, we were straddling Chinatown and the Financial District when 3:30 came. It was time to call the taxi driver to arrange for the return of Julia's phone. But how do you call somebody when you don't have a phone?
We walked into the Hilton on Kearny Street, looking for a sight that used to be standard equipment in every hotel: a row of payphones. But there was not a one, and the staff there had no idea where we could find one.
Julia worked her charm on one young man in the lobby to let her use his phone to make the call. And when the taxi driver was more than forty-five minutes late, she stopped a young woman on the street and asked if she could use her phone. Once again, no problem.
About ten minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of the hotel. Julia paid the driver the fare that he charged for making the delivery, and we were on our way.
With Julia and her phone reunited, we headed towards the Montgomery Muni Metro station. During our eight-block walk, I had some thoughts I needed to discuss and share with Julia:
What with my still-fresh Tu Lan experience in mind, the Julia-cell-phone story having just come to a happy conclusion, and my recent travels for two and a half months in Southeast Asia, there were some threads I felt the need to pull together so I could weave an understanding of life across lines of generations, technology, and wealth.
In Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, I had just spent much time sitting in restaurants and on buses with people who have no electronic devices keeping them from communicating with others in close proximity. The typical resident of these countries can't afford to buy her or his own phone, which is not a problem, as there are multiple options available for placing calls, including numerous pay phones as well as shops with phones equipped with timers so that customers can pay by the minute.
Here, global financial crisis notwithstanding, people have enough money to maintain their cell phones and other gadgets, which not only creates less demand for public payphones, but also contributes to an independence that keeps us separate from other human beings whose paths we cross.
That being said, I was compelled to note how heartwarming it was to see that a perfect stranger could assist when asked by handing over a cell phone to a random person when approached in a hotel lobby or on the street.
Once we had arrived on Market Street, we had a good laugh as we encountered the sight for which we had been looking so earnestly only a short time before: a payphone, attached to a bus shelter.
Julia wondered if it was in working order. She stopped to pick up the receiver, reporting that there was, indeed, a dial tone. We exchanged smiles, she hung up the phone, and we descended the stairs to our train.
Tu Lan's patrons reflect a huge range of humanity: down-and-out Sixth Street habitués, nearby office workers, tourists, and a mix of local cognoscenti aware of the restaurant's frequent appearances on the various "Best of" lists (2008 Bay Guardian Best Cheap Restaurant). The one common denominator of these connoisseurs is their appreciation of a tasty meal served up in huge portions by a team of cooks that never pauses from its culinary activity, all of which takes place inches away from the counter.
This little place has such a devoted following that it is not always easy to find a table during lunchtime. The entry area is adjacent to the cashier, who usually has a fistful of bills in her hand (no credit cards accepted), and a congregation of people who are either waiting to be seated, paying their bills, or biding their time until their take-out orders are ready.
It's a place that is sorely in need of a make-over, but the Catch 22 in doing so is that most customers would probably feel that a sanitized Tu Lan would lose its charm. Everything about its furnishings is well-used. Overall, it is clean enough not to have been shut down by the Health Department (having scored a 92 out of 100 during its most recent visit Food Inspection Report), but sorely in need of an industrial floor-to-ceiling steam cleaning to divest it from the grease, some of which has probably been lingering since the Nixon Administration.
Single diners have some flexibility in seating, as there is a counter with five stools, and the staff will also ask if you are willing to be seated with a lone diner who has a spare seat at a table for two.
When it was my turn to be seated, there was a twenty-something guy, also alone, right behind me. They asked us if we would share a table for two and we both agreed.
Each of us waved away the menus when the waiter arrived with them, as we were familiar with its contents and knew exactly what we wanted. My tablemate ordered his by number (40); I didn't know the number of my item - tofu salad - so I requested it by name.
In an attempt to initiate small talk, I asked him, "Is that what you always get?" He at first monosyllabically replied, "Yes," but then went on to explain that it was beef with mixed vegetables.
He then proceded to take a hand-held device from his pocket (i-Pod? Blackberry? cell phone? I have no idea.). My ambidextrous multitasking tablemate managed to manipulate the chopsticks in his right hand and this gadget in his left during the entire meal. His gaze remained downward, to this object and to his food, for the duration of our brief time together.
I didn't have any such device with me. My only reading material was this guy: his gold-rimmed glasses, plaid cotton shirt, tan windbreaker, silver wedding ring, dark blonde hair that may have had an encounter with a comb as recently as, oh, last weekend.
When I completed my salad, prepared to pay the bill, and left the table, I didn't see any point in saying good-bye to him. First of all, we hadn't made any kind of personal connection. Furthermore, I felt that anything I said, no matter how brief, would be an interruption to whatever it was that he was doing.
So, you might ask, what is my point?
As few as ten years ago, two such people would have had, at the very least, a rudimentary conversation asking and answering such questions as: Do you come here often? Do you work nearby? What kind of work do you do? What part of town do you live in?
Okay, okay. I look at these questions and I realize that they are bullshit, pointless, meaningless. Yet I feel that we are losing a bit of our humanity when we can't even have such a conversation with a stranger because of the devices we (a) hold in our hands or (b) stick in our ears.
It struck me: maybe I simply wasn't his type. Maybe he'd have been sociable if I were. He certainly wasn't my type, but that wouldn't have prevented me from entering into social intercourse with him.
Two days later, I spent Friday evening with friends, one of whom was visiting from out of town. Before the end of the evening, Julia, the visitor, expressed interest in seeing some of the sights the next day, Saturday, and I agreed to go along.
It's always enjoyable spending time with this vivacious young woman who has a bright outlook on everything she does. I hadn't seen her since her wedding last Memorial Day, and there was lots of news to catch up with.
The next morning, I waited in vain for a call from her. I held back in calling because I thought, Hey, she's on vacation, so maybe she's sleeping late.
When I hadn't heard from her by 11:10, I called her cell phone. Oddly, a man with a foreign accent answered, quickly explaining that this was, indeed, Julia's phone, which she'd left it in his taxi the previous night. Realizing that she had left her phone behind, she had call her phone from a friend's phone earlier that morning, he had answered the call, and she arranged to call back at 3:30 in the afternoon, which would be the time he would be going to work for the day. Then, they would be able to meet so she could get her phone.
"Call her after 4:00," he advised.
And lose the day? No, there had to be another way to contact her. But what was it?
We do have mutual friends here, but she wasn't staying with any of them.
As I explained the dilemma to my housemate, he made a suggestion: call the taxi driver again (Julia's number). She must have called him from her friend's phone. That number would be retained on the phone. Ask him to give it to you, and then you will be able to reach Julia.
Great idea, but the man did not know how to retrieve the number. Back to square one.
I called Julia's husband in Washington, hoping that he would know with whom she was staying. No luck, as my call went to voicemail. All I could do was leave a message.
I told my housemate, I'm in the phone book. I'm in Information. All she has to do is check there, and she can get my number.
In a revelation, my clever housemate, just a few years junior to my 61, said, "She's younger than we are. They don't do things like that." And then he asked, "Did you check your e-mail? Maybe she wrote to you there."
In point of fact, no, I hadn't checked my e-mail. Saturday is my day off the computer, my weekly reminder that I don't need more of it, but less.
My course of action was clear: turn on the computer and check the e-mail.
And that is exactly how Julia came to make contact with me: by sending me an e-mail that included the cell phone number of the friend she was with. I called, we made our arrangements, and spent the afternoon together.
As we discussed the situation, I explained that she could have looked me up in the phone book or called 411. Her reply: "I never would have thought of that."
Wouldn't you call that a manifestation of the generation gap?
That afternoon, we were straddling Chinatown and the Financial District when 3:30 came. It was time to call the taxi driver to arrange for the return of Julia's phone. But how do you call somebody when you don't have a phone?
We walked into the Hilton on Kearny Street, looking for a sight that used to be standard equipment in every hotel: a row of payphones. But there was not a one, and the staff there had no idea where we could find one.
Julia worked her charm on one young man in the lobby to let her use his phone to make the call. And when the taxi driver was more than forty-five minutes late, she stopped a young woman on the street and asked if she could use her phone. Once again, no problem.
About ten minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of the hotel. Julia paid the driver the fare that he charged for making the delivery, and we were on our way.
With Julia and her phone reunited, we headed towards the Montgomery Muni Metro station. During our eight-block walk, I had some thoughts I needed to discuss and share with Julia:
What with my still-fresh Tu Lan experience in mind, the Julia-cell-phone story having just come to a happy conclusion, and my recent travels for two and a half months in Southeast Asia, there were some threads I felt the need to pull together so I could weave an understanding of life across lines of generations, technology, and wealth.
In Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, I had just spent much time sitting in restaurants and on buses with people who have no electronic devices keeping them from communicating with others in close proximity. The typical resident of these countries can't afford to buy her or his own phone, which is not a problem, as there are multiple options available for placing calls, including numerous pay phones as well as shops with phones equipped with timers so that customers can pay by the minute.
Here, global financial crisis notwithstanding, people have enough money to maintain their cell phones and other gadgets, which not only creates less demand for public payphones, but also contributes to an independence that keeps us separate from other human beings whose paths we cross.
That being said, I was compelled to note how heartwarming it was to see that a perfect stranger could assist when asked by handing over a cell phone to a random person when approached in a hotel lobby or on the street.
Once we had arrived on Market Street, we had a good laugh as we encountered the sight for which we had been looking so earnestly only a short time before: a payphone, attached to a bus shelter.
Julia wondered if it was in working order. She stopped to pick up the receiver, reporting that there was, indeed, a dial tone. We exchanged smiles, she hung up the phone, and we descended the stairs to our train.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Australia: Brisbane to Sydney
Brisbane, part 2
Monday, 9 March 2009
All went smoothly from Tufi to Port Moresby to Brisbane. The problem arose when I arrived in Brisbane, as I didn't have any reservation here.
There was a good reason why I didn't have a reservation: either the flight from Tufi to Moresby or Moresby to Brisbane could have been cancelled or delayed. I didn't want to risk having a reservation that I would not keep, and thereby lose my payment for it.
So I arrived with no reservation and proceeded to walk from one backpackers to another to find a room: they were all full, and they also told me that the others nearby were full.
After an hour and a half of trudging around, I finally gave up on the backpackers and went for a hotel. This is a place with what they call "serviced apartments" and it is very clean and pleasant, though more than I wanted to pay. But I have a roof over my head, so all is well.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Something I didn't mention last week in the PNG post was that on Wednesday night, after our arrival in Tufi, I felt like I was coming down with a cold.
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I was really fine - just some very light effects, like sniffles.
Sunday and Monday I was coughing.
Today I was fine all day and was walking around Brisbane as if there were nothing wrong. Around 5:00 PM, though, I started to get the chills and it was so bad that my fingers were numb.
I made my way back to my hotel, where I got in bed. The chills turned to a burning sensation, like fever. I am not traveling with a thermometer, but I know I must have had a fever.
I was very hot when I got to bed, all covered up and also sweating. In the middle of the night, though, I awoke to a different sensation: the fever had broken and I was feeling much more comfortable.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Had I been home, my approach would have been to stay in bed all day. But I had bus and room reservations, as I was headed off to Byron Bay, New South Wales, the state just below Queensland.
As I write, I am in my hotel in Byron Bay, waiting to check in. When I check in, I will just head to bed. I don't know how much of Byron Bay I will see.
Byron Bay
Thursday, 12 March 2009
I slept a lot yesterday and last night. I am feeling a bit better today, but still lethargic.
There is not too much to see here. The town is very pleasant and feels very much like California to me. Outside of the walk to the point designated as easternmost location in Australia, there isn't much to see or do.
I am going to stick around my room for the morning and then see how well I feel in the afternoon, to take a walk around town and pick up some provisions for my train ride tomorrow.
*****
I think I know what's wrong with me: I'm dehydrated. No surprise, I think, since I was just in some very humid areas, was sweating all day, and probably didn't replace the water that I lost that way.
I went into town to get some oral rehydration salts and was happy to see that they now come in the form of a liquid that can be frozen and then sucked like an icee pop. I have taken one already, and there are two more in the freezer right now.
Friday, 13 March 2009
The oral rehydration salts and drinking lots of water seem to have done the trick. I am feeling much better.
I have a long train ride today, heading in the direction of Sydney, about an hour and a half north of it, and spending the weekend there with some friends of friends.
Woy Woy, NSW
Friday, 13 March - Monday, 16 March 2009
I am spending the weekend with Colin and Wayne. We are all members of the same travel organization that is populated by gay men who are older than forty.
They picked me up in Gosford, which is the nearest place where the train stopped, and took me to their splendid home that sits overlooking the Brisbane Water (not anywhere near the city of Brisbane, but named after the same person).
It has been very relaxing, and they are outstanding hosts. I am the first visitor to their home by way of this club. We went for some enjoyable drives on Saturday and Sunday, to see the beaches and areas nearby.
I am enjoying their company!
Sydney
Monday, 16 March 2009
Colin and Wayne dropped me off at the Woy Woy train station shortly after noon so that I could make the hour-plus trip to Sydney. I had booked a hotel room for one night, and it is near the Central Station. This is the second hotel room of this trip that has a computer in the room. Nice option!
I headed right out to look for short-term housing. Since I will be here for about two weeks, I thought it would be much more enjoyable to have access to a kitchen and all the amenities of home.
The websites and bulletin boards are not yielding lots of action.
I had dinner with a local bloke, Kim, who is a friend of my housemate in San Francisco. He gave me additional advice to that of Wayne and Colin. After dinner, when I made a call to one number that I had, I found that the place was just a block away from the phone where I had made the call. The guy let us come in right away.
The place was small and very cluttered, though I would have had my own room. He is looking for somebody for longer than two weeks, but would accept my offer if nobody else shows up.
Last week I placed an ad on the Sydney craigslist site. As a result, I have received some very strange e-mails: three different scams from people claiming to have apartments in Sydney, telling me that they could not be here now to show me the places, and that I should send them a deposit, after which they will mail me the contract and the keys.
Who would fall for rubbish like that?
On Monday afternoon, woman in Bondi Junction replied to my request on craigslist. I am going to see her place tomorrow.
In the meantime, after I spent tonight at the hotel, Kim has invited me to stay at his place for a few days.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
In the morning I rode the bus to Kim's place and we then took a nice walk along the shoreline. Then, he dropped me off in Bondi (note the pronunciation: Bond-EYE) so that I could see Julie's place.
Everything there checked out, and I will be moving in on Thursday morning.
During our conversation, when I mentioned the craigslist scammers, Julie told me stories of people she knows who were coming here from England and had sent money to people so that they could secure their apartments.
The people who offered the apartments were, indeed, scammers. The British couple arrived at the airport and took a taxi to an address that turned out to be a fish and chips shop. Not what they had expected!
Evidently, then, there are people who fall for that!
In any event, I am happy that I will have just about two weeks in a nice place, able to cook for myself, and with both a washing machine and computer on the premises.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
I moved in at Julie's place in Bondi. It's nice to have a room, kitchen privileges, and Internet. There also a washing machine here, so I wasted no time in doing a full load of laundry, including all the little nylon bags that have been containing my belongings.
My personal philosophy about ironing is that if an item I am considering for purchase mentions the need for ironing on its label, I do not buy it. But since my retirement, I have taken to ironing my handkerchieves. They don't need to be ironed but I do enjoy doing this one little task.
I noted that Julie had set up an iron on a big towel on the dining room table, so I started ironing my handkerchieves. That was a mistake! The heat of the iron cracked the glass! Now I have to replace the glass.
Julie was nice about it. She said that the glass was old and that she would split the cost with me.
Friday, 20 March 2009
On Wednesday, Kim volunteered to show me around lots of the Sydney area, which was great fun.
I told him that I needed to buy a new pair of shoes. In reality, I needed to buy an old pair of shoes. There is a little story about that:
My flight home to San Francisco is going to be purchased by way of a friend who is retired from a major airline. He is entitled every year to a certain number of what they call Companion Passes. These are not free, but they are deeply discounted. They also come with a caveat: full-fare passengers board the plane first, and passengers holding Companion Passes get on only if there are seats available.
These tickets also come with a dress code! There is a distinct possibility that a person holding a Companion Pass will be upgraded to Business Class. They don't want riff-raff in Business Class, so there are a few rules concerning not wearing jeans, T-shirts, sandals, or sneakers.
I have all the clothing I need to look presentable, except for the footwear, in that I am traveling now only with sneakers and sandals. So I needed a pair of dress shoes.
In fact, I don't need a pair of dress shoes at home, so my best approach was to see about getting a used pair that I could wear, pass the inspection, get onboard, and never wear again.
Kim was gracious enough to humor me about this little shopping that I needed. We stopped at the St. Vincent de Paul - called "Vinnies" in Australia - in his neighborhood, and I was able to find a decent pair. I was in and out of the shop in fewer than five minutes. The only thing better than that would have been three minutes.
In the evening Kim picked me up and drove me to Emanuel Synagogue in Woolahra for services, which were officiated by a woman rabbi and had a few tunes that I was able to recognize.
After services, we went to Kim's house for Shabbat dinner. It was a mixed group of seven guys, with only one who was born in Australia. The others were from Brazil, Italy, New Zealand, two from Israel, and me.
*****
Last week when I got sick, I didn't take the measure of resting in bed, or just taking it easy for any length of time. Maybe it was a little late, but I made up for that by staying around the house for most of Friday and Saturday.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Yesterday afternoon I purchased a weekly pass at the local newsagent. As she explained it to me, it is valid on all local buses, trains, and ferries in the area known as the Red Zone. Being a visitor here, I am a little fuzzy on exactly what area the Red Zone encompasses.
One place I was interested in going is Manly Beach. Call me funny, but I just like the name: Manly. I asked the newsagent if I could use it on the ferry to Manly and she said I could.
I got on the bus that goes to Circular Quay (note to people outside of Australia: "quay" is pronounced "key," not "kway). When I got there, I could see that there are many ferries going to an assortment of destinations. I put my pass through the turnstile at the entrance to the Manly ferry and found that it was not accepted.
The employee on duty told me that my Red Pass would be valid on certain destinations - he mentioned a variety of colors, like yellow, green, blue, whatever - but it was not good for Manly.
I thought, Okay, I will just get on another ferry. Doesn't matter which one, as long as my pass is good.
I looked on the electronic board that explained which ferries were leaving soon. I was confronted with a huge assortment of names - Darling Harbour, Manly, Taranga Zoo, Balmain, Woolwich, Parramatta, Mosman, Watsons Bay, Neutral Bay, Double Bay, Rose Bay, Garden Island, Cremorne Point - each of which was equally meaningless to me.
There was one leaving in one minute, so I headed to the appropriate pier - er, quay - and tried my pass. It was accepted. I was the last one to get onto the ferry.
I am sure that anyone familiar with this area is going to laugh when s/he reads where I went. I have already told two people, and they thought it was funny. I went to Parramatta. The San Francisco equivalent would probably be something like Vallejo or San Jose.
It wasn't until I was on the ferry and it was in motion that I looked up Parramatta in my guidebook and learned that it was simply a suburban outpost with a reasonably-sized CBD (Central Business District), and not too much more.
I did enjoy the fifty-minute ride, however, as it afforded me the opportunity to see whatever settlements and parks were located along the banks of the Parramatta River.
Once I got there I could either have returned on the same ferry or walked around for an hour and a half, which was the scheduled departure of the next one. I decided on the latter, and spent my time getting something to eat and a haircut.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Kim and I met for lunch at the nearby Bondi Junction shopping center, which has a variety of food courts, some of which offer mostly fast food, and some of which are much more appealing and with food of greater nutritional value.
From there, we headed to the area of the Circular Quay so that we could visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is located in an area that faces the majestic Sydney Opera House.
Once we had finished our visit, Kim had to leave, so I wandered over to the Opera House to see about taking a tour of the building. I was also curious to see what performances are coming up inside the building, as it would be delightful to see something in there.
Of the concerts coming up, there is one that I definitely want to see: a Touareg band named Tinariwen. To my great dismay, their appearance is going to be two weeks after I leave Sydney!
I did take the tour of the Opera House, which consists of three separate side-by-side buildings: a restaurant, the 2,700-seat Concert Hall, and the 1,547-seat Opera Theatre. Our excellent guide gave us much of the history of the building. The tour included a few short videos about its construction.
The complex also includes three theatres: the Playhouse, Drama Theatre, and The Studio. We didn't have an opportunity to visit these on the tour, or to learn of their seating capacities.
In the Opera Theatre, we observed preparations for setting the stage for an upcoming opera. We were allowed into the Concert Hall, where the Sydney Symphony was rehearsing for a concert that will open tomorrow night. Entitled Beethoven and Beyond, the concert features the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Haydn's Symphony No. 67, and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
I was mightily impressed by what I heard, which was the Beethoven, and after the tour I purchased a ticket to attend tomorrow night's concert.
I had some dinner on the picturesque quay and then attended the meeting of the City Tattersalls Toastmasters, which meets in the downtown area. It's always enjoyable to see the variations that other clubs make in their meetings.
I came home to find out from Julie, my housemate, that Wendy Rabbit, the household bunny, had died. She had not been well these last few weeks, and was losing weight, so the vet was able to euthanize her.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
I went online to see if Tinariwen was going to be performing any concerts during the next year in any place that I am going to visit. To my great surprise and delight, their concert date that immediately follows Sydney is in...
San Francisco!
I headed directly online to see if I could get tickets, and I did! So I will be seeing Tinariwen in San Francisco on the 16th of April.
In the evening, I returned to the Opera House to see the Sydney Symphony concert I mentioned above. The hall itself is reminiscent of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and has great acoustics.
I enjoyed the Beethoven and Haydn, as I knew I would, but was not sure about the Bartok. Some people in the audience left before the Bartok, which was the final selection of the evening, but even though I didn't have high hopes for it, I thought I would give it a chance.
Once they started the second movement, though, I was outta there, as it was not the melodic kind of music that I prefer.
Friday, 27 March 2009
It was a museum day. Here in Australia, they call art museums "galleries."
First up was the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I have noticed that most of the public museums - galleries - are free to all, which is nice. Most of the Art Gallery NSW is free now, but there is one large exhibition that incurs a small admission fee:
The 2009 Archibald Prize.
Each year, the Archibald Prize is awarded for portrait painting. Artists, both established and up-and-coming, compete to get their work into the exhibition which, this year, contains 39 canvases. Most of the subjects are famous Australians whom artists have managed to pursuade to sit for them. (One of the rules is that the subject of the work has consented to being portrayed.)
Being as unfamiliar as I am with Australian dignitaries, there was only one subject whom I had ever heard of. Coincidentally, this man's portrait was the winner of the Archibald Prize. His name is Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunypingu, and he has recently come onto the scene as a performer. Gurrumul, as he is widely known, is a blind Aboriginal who sings predominantly in his native Yolngu language. I have heard some of his music in several places during my time in Australia.
One of the features of the exhibition is that, upon leaving, people who have been to the exhibition can vote for their choice as the best portrait. Called the "People's Choice," this award is conferred at the end of the show.
Also included in the same exhibition space were the entries for the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figuritive sculpture and the Sulman Prize for subject, genre, or mural painting.
If seeing these works of are weren't enough, I then headed to the Library of New South Wales to see the show exhibiting the entries for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prizze and the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.
It was a good day for art!
In the evening I walked to the Emanuel Synagogue for services, and was able to speak to several people whom I had met last week, including Kim and some of the friends to whom he had introduced me.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
There were several stops on today's agenda. First was the Paddington Market, which is devoted to selling mostly Australian hand-crafted items and is held every Saturday at a public school in Paddington, between Bondi and the downtown area.
There were some lovely items, but I really didn't need to buy anything else.
Nearby is the Australian Centre for Photography, where I saw two enjoyable exhibitions. Noteworthy was the show "2nd" which featured portraits and narratives from people who had come in second place in a wide variety of competitions.
From there, I made my way to the Circular Quay and, using my weekly pass which is now on its final day, I took a ferry to Darling Harbour. There was really no reason to go there, as I just liked the name. Darling Harbour is west of the main downtown area, and so I was able to walk through the town and eventually made my way to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are located behind the Sydney Opera House, and are a vast open space of beautiful landscape.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
I headed out for the ferry to Manly. Great name, that! Manly Beach is a popular place for surfing and sunbathing. I just wanted to see who was going to be there, and also see about getting some surreptitious photos of cute guys.
From there, I headed back to Sydney. In the evening I went to Kim's for dinner. He was hosting four of us, including his friend Pierre who was visiting from New Zealand. Wonderful dinner and company!
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Kim picked me up for an early lunch in Bondi Junction and then I took the bus from there to the airport. I was flying standby, thanks to a friend who is retired from United. There was a chance, then, that I would not get on the flight.
When I arrived at the airport to check in for the flight, I asked if the agent would be able to tell me what the chances were of my getting on. He said that there were thirty empty seats and that it should not be a problem. I was happy to hear that!
He told me where to report at 2:15, and when I got back to that point after walking around for a little bit, I saw a large crowd of people - many more than thirty - waiting there. As it turned out, most of them were standing by for the flight to Los Angeles, which left an hour before the one to San Francisco.
In time, one of the agents came by with boarding passes and started calling names for the Los Angeles flight. Most of the people waiting for it got on, and those who did not make it were asked if they wanted to go to San Francisco instead, which added more people to my flight.
Once that was taken care of, those of us waiting just stood around and chatted for about half an hour, until they came by to call names for the San Francisco flight. There were about twenty of us waiting for those thirty empty seats, so it looked good.
When the agent came by, holding the boarding passes, before she called out names, she announced to the group, "You all made it." That was good news, indeed. All I needed to know, then, was where I was going to be sitting.
I was the tenth person called. Up until the person before me, everyone called were couples. When I got my boarding pass, it said "BUSINESS CLASS" but there was no seat assignment, so I wasn't sure. I had to go to the gate to get the seat assignment and, once again, wait for my name to be called.
When I was called, I saw that my seat assignment was 10 D. I wasn't sure what class that was, but it was certainly forward enough in the cabin so that it might be Business Class.
Indeed it was - in the last row of Business Class! Lucky me!
I have never seen seats configured as they were on this flight, and my seatmate, who flies frequently, told me that this is a new arrangement. The seats fully recline to horizontal, and each one has its own individually-controlled monitor, with a large array of possibilities for watching movies and TV programs.
My friend who made the arrangements for me informed me that there would be no opportunity to request a vegetarian meal, so I brought some food with me, just in case. As it turned out, there was a pasta dish on the menu, but after I ordered that, the flight attendant informed me that there were none left. No worries to that, as I had food, and I was fine with the situation.
It was a very comfortable seat, which made the thirteen-hour trip tolerable. I slept a little bit, did a few puzzles, and at one point watched a few episodes from the Discovery Channel (I'm a sucker for Josh Bernstein, so I was happy to see a few of his segments on there.)
Once in San Francisco, I was singled out for special treatment at Customs. I am sure that my form, indicating where I had been during the last five months, raised some suspicion, so I got the special treatment that involved not only opening my luggage but going through just about every little bag inside.
I was not carrying any contraband and there was nobody waiting for me at the airport, so I didn't care what they looked through.
It's good to be home!
Bits and pieces - summation of this trip
Here are some bits and pieces from the trip, as a means of summarizing such topics as currencies spent, border crossings, flights taken, and some observations about Australia and New Zealand.
Currencies spent
Converting currencies is a good way to keep the mind active and engaged. In each country, the exchange rate is so different so that I had to come up with new formulae for changing money and for checking the comparative value of good and services. Here are the examples of the countries I visited on this trip. I am using the internationally-recognized three-letter symbols for each currency:
Cambodian riel (KHR)
$1 = 4,187 KHR
1 KHR = .0002388 USD
ATMs in Cambodia dispense only US dollars. Most prices for hotels, restaurants, and entry into landmarks are quoted in US dollars. The only time you get the KHR is when there is an amount that is less than $1. If you give $10 for something that is priced at $9.50, you get change of about 2,000 KHR.
Vietnam dong (VND)
$1 = 18,500 VND
1 VND = .00005657 USD
A million VND was worth about $54 US, which was an amount that could be dispensed from ATMs. Several times in Vietnam I had 1,000,000 VND in my pocket.
Laos kip (LAK)
$1 = 8,757 LAK
1 LAK = .0001142 LAK
Thailand baht (THB)
$1 = 35 THB
1 THB = .0278 USD
Australia dollar (AUD)
$1 = $1.51 AUD
1 AUD = .66 USD
New Zealand dollar (NZD)
$1 = $1.88 NZD
1 NZD = .53 USD
Papua New Guinea kina (PGK)
$1 = 2.89 PGK
1 PGK = .35 USD
Border crossings
US - Hong Kong
Hong Kong - Thailand
Thailand - Cambodia
Cambodia - Vietnam
Vietnam - Laos
Laos - Thailand
Thailand - Myanmar
Myanmar - Thailand
Thailand - Australia
Australia - New Zealand
New Zealand - Australia
Australia - Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea - Australia
Australia - USA
Seven different countries visited during this trip
Flights and airports
San Francisco to Hong Kong
Hong Kong to Bangkok
Bangkok to Siem Reap
Hanoi to Vientiane
Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai to Bangkok
Bangkok to Yangon
Yangon to Mandalay
Nyaung U to Yangon
Yangon to Bangkok
Bangkok to Melbourne
Melbourne to Perth
Perth to Melbourne
Melbourne to Hobart
Hobart to Melbourne
Melbourne to Christchurch
Auckland to Brisbane
Brisbane to Port Moresby
Port Moresby to Tufi
Tufi to Port Moresby
Port Moresby to Brisbane
Sydney to San Francisco
22 flights using 20 different airports
Most frequently-used airports were Bangkok (5) and Melbourne (6)
Average of one flight a week during this trip (one every 7.3 days)
Accommodation, 162 nights
Friends or friends of friends, 11
Hotels, hostels, backpackers, 106
Hosts belonging to couchsurfing.com or hospitalityclub.org, 19
Homestay bed-and-breakfasts, 13
Renting my own place (only in Sydney), 13
Australia and New Zealand observations
I had a great time in Australia and New Zealand. Many people expect that places in Southeast Asia would be different from anywhere in the Western world. But how are things different in Australia and New Zealand? These are places where things operate more or less as they do at home. But if you have ever been to Canada, England, or Ireland, you know that there are always little twists that mark these places as being not home.
Here are a few things I noticed:
It's hard to overlook the differences between English spoken at home and that of these two countries. The accent is easy to understand most of the time, but I did have some puzzled moments.
Australians leave out lots of syllables and slur others. The name of their country frequently comes out sounding like "Straya," and I have seen this usage in a few signs. Similarly, the adjective "Australian" frequently sounds like "Strine."
In many words, the letter "r" is missing in action. Though I had seen the department store Myer in most towns I had visited, it didn't register as the place I was looking for when somebody gave me directions by saying that I should turn right at Maya. I thought I needed the Mezoamerican name, and that's what I was searching for, until I saw the Myer store and it clicked.
The word "saint," when said by itself sounds like "saint," but when added to a name, it is more like "sin," as in Sin George, Sin Kilda, etc.
There are lots of vocabulary differences:
forest fires are bush fires
bake sale is cake stand
Girl Scout Cookies are Girl Guide Biscuits
sunbathing is sunbaking
cellphones are mobiles
layaway is layby
collision repair is panel beating
liquor store is bottle shop
large is massive (and "massive" is used a lot: massive home sale, massive reductions, etc.)
How are you? is Are you all right?
In Australia, a soldier is a digger.
STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) are STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections)
Laurie is a man's name.
Instead of coming right out and saying "yes," many people say, "I don't mind" or "I wouldn't mind."
Both of these countries do a great job in providing public toilet facilities, which are easy to find in most towns and cities I visited. In Australia, there are always bright yellow lock-boxes for the disposal of used syringes. Most toilets are labeled "male" and "female" rather then "men" and "women."
In most homes, the toilets feature two options for flushing: one with a small charge of water, and one with a larger one.
Sales tax is already included in the price of all items, including restaurants, so you pay exactly what the label or menu says. There is no tipping in restaurants, as all servers are paid a living wage for their work. Some restaurants charge 10 to 15% higher prices on public holidays, to compensate for the fact that they have to pay their staff a higher wage on these days.
In Australia, many places that accept credit cards will only do so if the charge is more than $10 or $20. The credit card machine and process is generally referred to as "eftpos," so if you want to know if a place will accept your card, you ask, "Do you have eftpos?" Many people who use the eftpos use it like our debit cards, so it is always important to indicate whether you will use your PIN (debit) or sign (credit).
Monday, 9 March 2009
All went smoothly from Tufi to Port Moresby to Brisbane. The problem arose when I arrived in Brisbane, as I didn't have any reservation here.
There was a good reason why I didn't have a reservation: either the flight from Tufi to Moresby or Moresby to Brisbane could have been cancelled or delayed. I didn't want to risk having a reservation that I would not keep, and thereby lose my payment for it.
So I arrived with no reservation and proceeded to walk from one backpackers to another to find a room: they were all full, and they also told me that the others nearby were full.
After an hour and a half of trudging around, I finally gave up on the backpackers and went for a hotel. This is a place with what they call "serviced apartments" and it is very clean and pleasant, though more than I wanted to pay. But I have a roof over my head, so all is well.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Something I didn't mention last week in the PNG post was that on Wednesday night, after our arrival in Tufi, I felt like I was coming down with a cold.
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I was really fine - just some very light effects, like sniffles.
Sunday and Monday I was coughing.
Today I was fine all day and was walking around Brisbane as if there were nothing wrong. Around 5:00 PM, though, I started to get the chills and it was so bad that my fingers were numb.
I made my way back to my hotel, where I got in bed. The chills turned to a burning sensation, like fever. I am not traveling with a thermometer, but I know I must have had a fever.
I was very hot when I got to bed, all covered up and also sweating. In the middle of the night, though, I awoke to a different sensation: the fever had broken and I was feeling much more comfortable.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Had I been home, my approach would have been to stay in bed all day. But I had bus and room reservations, as I was headed off to Byron Bay, New South Wales, the state just below Queensland.
As I write, I am in my hotel in Byron Bay, waiting to check in. When I check in, I will just head to bed. I don't know how much of Byron Bay I will see.
Byron Bay
Thursday, 12 March 2009
I slept a lot yesterday and last night. I am feeling a bit better today, but still lethargic.
There is not too much to see here. The town is very pleasant and feels very much like California to me. Outside of the walk to the point designated as easternmost location in Australia, there isn't much to see or do.
I am going to stick around my room for the morning and then see how well I feel in the afternoon, to take a walk around town and pick up some provisions for my train ride tomorrow.
*****
I think I know what's wrong with me: I'm dehydrated. No surprise, I think, since I was just in some very humid areas, was sweating all day, and probably didn't replace the water that I lost that way.
I went into town to get some oral rehydration salts and was happy to see that they now come in the form of a liquid that can be frozen and then sucked like an icee pop. I have taken one already, and there are two more in the freezer right now.
Friday, 13 March 2009
The oral rehydration salts and drinking lots of water seem to have done the trick. I am feeling much better.
I have a long train ride today, heading in the direction of Sydney, about an hour and a half north of it, and spending the weekend there with some friends of friends.
Woy Woy, NSW
Friday, 13 March - Monday, 16 March 2009
I am spending the weekend with Colin and Wayne. We are all members of the same travel organization that is populated by gay men who are older than forty.
They picked me up in Gosford, which is the nearest place where the train stopped, and took me to their splendid home that sits overlooking the Brisbane Water (not anywhere near the city of Brisbane, but named after the same person).
It has been very relaxing, and they are outstanding hosts. I am the first visitor to their home by way of this club. We went for some enjoyable drives on Saturday and Sunday, to see the beaches and areas nearby.
I am enjoying their company!
Sydney
Monday, 16 March 2009
Colin and Wayne dropped me off at the Woy Woy train station shortly after noon so that I could make the hour-plus trip to Sydney. I had booked a hotel room for one night, and it is near the Central Station. This is the second hotel room of this trip that has a computer in the room. Nice option!
I headed right out to look for short-term housing. Since I will be here for about two weeks, I thought it would be much more enjoyable to have access to a kitchen and all the amenities of home.
The websites and bulletin boards are not yielding lots of action.
I had dinner with a local bloke, Kim, who is a friend of my housemate in San Francisco. He gave me additional advice to that of Wayne and Colin. After dinner, when I made a call to one number that I had, I found that the place was just a block away from the phone where I had made the call. The guy let us come in right away.
The place was small and very cluttered, though I would have had my own room. He is looking for somebody for longer than two weeks, but would accept my offer if nobody else shows up.
Last week I placed an ad on the Sydney craigslist site. As a result, I have received some very strange e-mails: three different scams from people claiming to have apartments in Sydney, telling me that they could not be here now to show me the places, and that I should send them a deposit, after which they will mail me the contract and the keys.
Who would fall for rubbish like that?
On Monday afternoon, woman in Bondi Junction replied to my request on craigslist. I am going to see her place tomorrow.
In the meantime, after I spent tonight at the hotel, Kim has invited me to stay at his place for a few days.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
In the morning I rode the bus to Kim's place and we then took a nice walk along the shoreline. Then, he dropped me off in Bondi (note the pronunciation: Bond-EYE) so that I could see Julie's place.
Everything there checked out, and I will be moving in on Thursday morning.
During our conversation, when I mentioned the craigslist scammers, Julie told me stories of people she knows who were coming here from England and had sent money to people so that they could secure their apartments.
The people who offered the apartments were, indeed, scammers. The British couple arrived at the airport and took a taxi to an address that turned out to be a fish and chips shop. Not what they had expected!
Evidently, then, there are people who fall for that!
In any event, I am happy that I will have just about two weeks in a nice place, able to cook for myself, and with both a washing machine and computer on the premises.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
I moved in at Julie's place in Bondi. It's nice to have a room, kitchen privileges, and Internet. There also a washing machine here, so I wasted no time in doing a full load of laundry, including all the little nylon bags that have been containing my belongings.
My personal philosophy about ironing is that if an item I am considering for purchase mentions the need for ironing on its label, I do not buy it. But since my retirement, I have taken to ironing my handkerchieves. They don't need to be ironed but I do enjoy doing this one little task.
I noted that Julie had set up an iron on a big towel on the dining room table, so I started ironing my handkerchieves. That was a mistake! The heat of the iron cracked the glass! Now I have to replace the glass.
Julie was nice about it. She said that the glass was old and that she would split the cost with me.
Friday, 20 March 2009
On Wednesday, Kim volunteered to show me around lots of the Sydney area, which was great fun.
I told him that I needed to buy a new pair of shoes. In reality, I needed to buy an old pair of shoes. There is a little story about that:
My flight home to San Francisco is going to be purchased by way of a friend who is retired from a major airline. He is entitled every year to a certain number of what they call Companion Passes. These are not free, but they are deeply discounted. They also come with a caveat: full-fare passengers board the plane first, and passengers holding Companion Passes get on only if there are seats available.
These tickets also come with a dress code! There is a distinct possibility that a person holding a Companion Pass will be upgraded to Business Class. They don't want riff-raff in Business Class, so there are a few rules concerning not wearing jeans, T-shirts, sandals, or sneakers.
I have all the clothing I need to look presentable, except for the footwear, in that I am traveling now only with sneakers and sandals. So I needed a pair of dress shoes.
In fact, I don't need a pair of dress shoes at home, so my best approach was to see about getting a used pair that I could wear, pass the inspection, get onboard, and never wear again.
Kim was gracious enough to humor me about this little shopping that I needed. We stopped at the St. Vincent de Paul - called "Vinnies" in Australia - in his neighborhood, and I was able to find a decent pair. I was in and out of the shop in fewer than five minutes. The only thing better than that would have been three minutes.
In the evening Kim picked me up and drove me to Emanuel Synagogue in Woolahra for services, which were officiated by a woman rabbi and had a few tunes that I was able to recognize.
After services, we went to Kim's house for Shabbat dinner. It was a mixed group of seven guys, with only one who was born in Australia. The others were from Brazil, Italy, New Zealand, two from Israel, and me.
*****
Last week when I got sick, I didn't take the measure of resting in bed, or just taking it easy for any length of time. Maybe it was a little late, but I made up for that by staying around the house for most of Friday and Saturday.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Yesterday afternoon I purchased a weekly pass at the local newsagent. As she explained it to me, it is valid on all local buses, trains, and ferries in the area known as the Red Zone. Being a visitor here, I am a little fuzzy on exactly what area the Red Zone encompasses.
One place I was interested in going is Manly Beach. Call me funny, but I just like the name: Manly. I asked the newsagent if I could use it on the ferry to Manly and she said I could.
I got on the bus that goes to Circular Quay (note to people outside of Australia: "quay" is pronounced "key," not "kway). When I got there, I could see that there are many ferries going to an assortment of destinations. I put my pass through the turnstile at the entrance to the Manly ferry and found that it was not accepted.
The employee on duty told me that my Red Pass would be valid on certain destinations - he mentioned a variety of colors, like yellow, green, blue, whatever - but it was not good for Manly.
I thought, Okay, I will just get on another ferry. Doesn't matter which one, as long as my pass is good.
I looked on the electronic board that explained which ferries were leaving soon. I was confronted with a huge assortment of names - Darling Harbour, Manly, Taranga Zoo, Balmain, Woolwich, Parramatta, Mosman, Watsons Bay, Neutral Bay, Double Bay, Rose Bay, Garden Island, Cremorne Point - each of which was equally meaningless to me.
There was one leaving in one minute, so I headed to the appropriate pier - er, quay - and tried my pass. It was accepted. I was the last one to get onto the ferry.
I am sure that anyone familiar with this area is going to laugh when s/he reads where I went. I have already told two people, and they thought it was funny. I went to Parramatta. The San Francisco equivalent would probably be something like Vallejo or San Jose.
It wasn't until I was on the ferry and it was in motion that I looked up Parramatta in my guidebook and learned that it was simply a suburban outpost with a reasonably-sized CBD (Central Business District), and not too much more.
I did enjoy the fifty-minute ride, however, as it afforded me the opportunity to see whatever settlements and parks were located along the banks of the Parramatta River.
Once I got there I could either have returned on the same ferry or walked around for an hour and a half, which was the scheduled departure of the next one. I decided on the latter, and spent my time getting something to eat and a haircut.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Kim and I met for lunch at the nearby Bondi Junction shopping center, which has a variety of food courts, some of which offer mostly fast food, and some of which are much more appealing and with food of greater nutritional value.
From there, we headed to the area of the Circular Quay so that we could visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is located in an area that faces the majestic Sydney Opera House.
Once we had finished our visit, Kim had to leave, so I wandered over to the Opera House to see about taking a tour of the building. I was also curious to see what performances are coming up inside the building, as it would be delightful to see something in there.
Of the concerts coming up, there is one that I definitely want to see: a Touareg band named Tinariwen. To my great dismay, their appearance is going to be two weeks after I leave Sydney!
I did take the tour of the Opera House, which consists of three separate side-by-side buildings: a restaurant, the 2,700-seat Concert Hall, and the 1,547-seat Opera Theatre. Our excellent guide gave us much of the history of the building. The tour included a few short videos about its construction.
The complex also includes three theatres: the Playhouse, Drama Theatre, and The Studio. We didn't have an opportunity to visit these on the tour, or to learn of their seating capacities.
In the Opera Theatre, we observed preparations for setting the stage for an upcoming opera. We were allowed into the Concert Hall, where the Sydney Symphony was rehearsing for a concert that will open tomorrow night. Entitled Beethoven and Beyond, the concert features the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Haydn's Symphony No. 67, and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
I was mightily impressed by what I heard, which was the Beethoven, and after the tour I purchased a ticket to attend tomorrow night's concert.
I had some dinner on the picturesque quay and then attended the meeting of the City Tattersalls Toastmasters, which meets in the downtown area. It's always enjoyable to see the variations that other clubs make in their meetings.
I came home to find out from Julie, my housemate, that Wendy Rabbit, the household bunny, had died. She had not been well these last few weeks, and was losing weight, so the vet was able to euthanize her.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
I went online to see if Tinariwen was going to be performing any concerts during the next year in any place that I am going to visit. To my great surprise and delight, their concert date that immediately follows Sydney is in...
San Francisco!
I headed directly online to see if I could get tickets, and I did! So I will be seeing Tinariwen in San Francisco on the 16th of April.
In the evening, I returned to the Opera House to see the Sydney Symphony concert I mentioned above. The hall itself is reminiscent of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and has great acoustics.
I enjoyed the Beethoven and Haydn, as I knew I would, but was not sure about the Bartok. Some people in the audience left before the Bartok, which was the final selection of the evening, but even though I didn't have high hopes for it, I thought I would give it a chance.
Once they started the second movement, though, I was outta there, as it was not the melodic kind of music that I prefer.
Friday, 27 March 2009
It was a museum day. Here in Australia, they call art museums "galleries."
First up was the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I have noticed that most of the public museums - galleries - are free to all, which is nice. Most of the Art Gallery NSW is free now, but there is one large exhibition that incurs a small admission fee:
The 2009 Archibald Prize.
Each year, the Archibald Prize is awarded for portrait painting. Artists, both established and up-and-coming, compete to get their work into the exhibition which, this year, contains 39 canvases. Most of the subjects are famous Australians whom artists have managed to pursuade to sit for them. (One of the rules is that the subject of the work has consented to being portrayed.)
Being as unfamiliar as I am with Australian dignitaries, there was only one subject whom I had ever heard of. Coincidentally, this man's portrait was the winner of the Archibald Prize. His name is Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunypingu, and he has recently come onto the scene as a performer. Gurrumul, as he is widely known, is a blind Aboriginal who sings predominantly in his native Yolngu language. I have heard some of his music in several places during my time in Australia.
One of the features of the exhibition is that, upon leaving, people who have been to the exhibition can vote for their choice as the best portrait. Called the "People's Choice," this award is conferred at the end of the show.
Also included in the same exhibition space were the entries for the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figuritive sculpture and the Sulman Prize for subject, genre, or mural painting.
If seeing these works of are weren't enough, I then headed to the Library of New South Wales to see the show exhibiting the entries for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prizze and the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.
It was a good day for art!
In the evening I walked to the Emanuel Synagogue for services, and was able to speak to several people whom I had met last week, including Kim and some of the friends to whom he had introduced me.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
There were several stops on today's agenda. First was the Paddington Market, which is devoted to selling mostly Australian hand-crafted items and is held every Saturday at a public school in Paddington, between Bondi and the downtown area.
There were some lovely items, but I really didn't need to buy anything else.
Nearby is the Australian Centre for Photography, where I saw two enjoyable exhibitions. Noteworthy was the show "2nd" which featured portraits and narratives from people who had come in second place in a wide variety of competitions.
From there, I made my way to the Circular Quay and, using my weekly pass which is now on its final day, I took a ferry to Darling Harbour. There was really no reason to go there, as I just liked the name. Darling Harbour is west of the main downtown area, and so I was able to walk through the town and eventually made my way to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are located behind the Sydney Opera House, and are a vast open space of beautiful landscape.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
I headed out for the ferry to Manly. Great name, that! Manly Beach is a popular place for surfing and sunbathing. I just wanted to see who was going to be there, and also see about getting some surreptitious photos of cute guys.
From there, I headed back to Sydney. In the evening I went to Kim's for dinner. He was hosting four of us, including his friend Pierre who was visiting from New Zealand. Wonderful dinner and company!
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Kim picked me up for an early lunch in Bondi Junction and then I took the bus from there to the airport. I was flying standby, thanks to a friend who is retired from United. There was a chance, then, that I would not get on the flight.
When I arrived at the airport to check in for the flight, I asked if the agent would be able to tell me what the chances were of my getting on. He said that there were thirty empty seats and that it should not be a problem. I was happy to hear that!
He told me where to report at 2:15, and when I got back to that point after walking around for a little bit, I saw a large crowd of people - many more than thirty - waiting there. As it turned out, most of them were standing by for the flight to Los Angeles, which left an hour before the one to San Francisco.
In time, one of the agents came by with boarding passes and started calling names for the Los Angeles flight. Most of the people waiting for it got on, and those who did not make it were asked if they wanted to go to San Francisco instead, which added more people to my flight.
Once that was taken care of, those of us waiting just stood around and chatted for about half an hour, until they came by to call names for the San Francisco flight. There were about twenty of us waiting for those thirty empty seats, so it looked good.
When the agent came by, holding the boarding passes, before she called out names, she announced to the group, "You all made it." That was good news, indeed. All I needed to know, then, was where I was going to be sitting.
I was the tenth person called. Up until the person before me, everyone called were couples. When I got my boarding pass, it said "BUSINESS CLASS" but there was no seat assignment, so I wasn't sure. I had to go to the gate to get the seat assignment and, once again, wait for my name to be called.
When I was called, I saw that my seat assignment was 10 D. I wasn't sure what class that was, but it was certainly forward enough in the cabin so that it might be Business Class.
Indeed it was - in the last row of Business Class! Lucky me!
I have never seen seats configured as they were on this flight, and my seatmate, who flies frequently, told me that this is a new arrangement. The seats fully recline to horizontal, and each one has its own individually-controlled monitor, with a large array of possibilities for watching movies and TV programs.
My friend who made the arrangements for me informed me that there would be no opportunity to request a vegetarian meal, so I brought some food with me, just in case. As it turned out, there was a pasta dish on the menu, but after I ordered that, the flight attendant informed me that there were none left. No worries to that, as I had food, and I was fine with the situation.
It was a very comfortable seat, which made the thirteen-hour trip tolerable. I slept a little bit, did a few puzzles, and at one point watched a few episodes from the Discovery Channel (I'm a sucker for Josh Bernstein, so I was happy to see a few of his segments on there.)
Once in San Francisco, I was singled out for special treatment at Customs. I am sure that my form, indicating where I had been during the last five months, raised some suspicion, so I got the special treatment that involved not only opening my luggage but going through just about every little bag inside.
I was not carrying any contraband and there was nobody waiting for me at the airport, so I didn't care what they looked through.
It's good to be home!
Bits and pieces - summation of this trip
Here are some bits and pieces from the trip, as a means of summarizing such topics as currencies spent, border crossings, flights taken, and some observations about Australia and New Zealand.
Currencies spent
Converting currencies is a good way to keep the mind active and engaged. In each country, the exchange rate is so different so that I had to come up with new formulae for changing money and for checking the comparative value of good and services. Here are the examples of the countries I visited on this trip. I am using the internationally-recognized three-letter symbols for each currency:
Cambodian riel (KHR)
$1 = 4,187 KHR
1 KHR = .0002388 USD
ATMs in Cambodia dispense only US dollars. Most prices for hotels, restaurants, and entry into landmarks are quoted in US dollars. The only time you get the KHR is when there is an amount that is less than $1. If you give $10 for something that is priced at $9.50, you get change of about 2,000 KHR.
Vietnam dong (VND)
$1 = 18,500 VND
1 VND = .00005657 USD
A million VND was worth about $54 US, which was an amount that could be dispensed from ATMs. Several times in Vietnam I had 1,000,000 VND in my pocket.
Laos kip (LAK)
$1 = 8,757 LAK
1 LAK = .0001142 LAK
Thailand baht (THB)
$1 = 35 THB
1 THB = .0278 USD
Australia dollar (AUD)
$1 = $1.51 AUD
1 AUD = .66 USD
New Zealand dollar (NZD)
$1 = $1.88 NZD
1 NZD = .53 USD
Papua New Guinea kina (PGK)
$1 = 2.89 PGK
1 PGK = .35 USD
Border crossings
US - Hong Kong
Hong Kong - Thailand
Thailand - Cambodia
Cambodia - Vietnam
Vietnam - Laos
Laos - Thailand
Thailand - Myanmar
Myanmar - Thailand
Thailand - Australia
Australia - New Zealand
New Zealand - Australia
Australia - Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea - Australia
Australia - USA
Seven different countries visited during this trip
Flights and airports
San Francisco to Hong Kong
Hong Kong to Bangkok
Bangkok to Siem Reap
Hanoi to Vientiane
Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai to Bangkok
Bangkok to Yangon
Yangon to Mandalay
Nyaung U to Yangon
Yangon to Bangkok
Bangkok to Melbourne
Melbourne to Perth
Perth to Melbourne
Melbourne to Hobart
Hobart to Melbourne
Melbourne to Christchurch
Auckland to Brisbane
Brisbane to Port Moresby
Port Moresby to Tufi
Tufi to Port Moresby
Port Moresby to Brisbane
Sydney to San Francisco
22 flights using 20 different airports
Most frequently-used airports were Bangkok (5) and Melbourne (6)
Average of one flight a week during this trip (one every 7.3 days)
Accommodation, 162 nights
Friends or friends of friends, 11
Hotels, hostels, backpackers, 106
Hosts belonging to couchsurfing.com or hospitalityclub.org, 19
Homestay bed-and-breakfasts, 13
Renting my own place (only in Sydney), 13
Australia and New Zealand observations
I had a great time in Australia and New Zealand. Many people expect that places in Southeast Asia would be different from anywhere in the Western world. But how are things different in Australia and New Zealand? These are places where things operate more or less as they do at home. But if you have ever been to Canada, England, or Ireland, you know that there are always little twists that mark these places as being not home.
Here are a few things I noticed:
It's hard to overlook the differences between English spoken at home and that of these two countries. The accent is easy to understand most of the time, but I did have some puzzled moments.
Australians leave out lots of syllables and slur others. The name of their country frequently comes out sounding like "Straya," and I have seen this usage in a few signs. Similarly, the adjective "Australian" frequently sounds like "Strine."
In many words, the letter "r" is missing in action. Though I had seen the department store Myer in most towns I had visited, it didn't register as the place I was looking for when somebody gave me directions by saying that I should turn right at Maya. I thought I needed the Mezoamerican name, and that's what I was searching for, until I saw the Myer store and it clicked.
The word "saint," when said by itself sounds like "saint," but when added to a name, it is more like "sin," as in Sin George, Sin Kilda, etc.
There are lots of vocabulary differences:
forest fires are bush fires
bake sale is cake stand
Girl Scout Cookies are Girl Guide Biscuits
sunbathing is sunbaking
cellphones are mobiles
layaway is layby
collision repair is panel beating
liquor store is bottle shop
large is massive (and "massive" is used a lot: massive home sale, massive reductions, etc.)
How are you? is Are you all right?
In Australia, a soldier is a digger.
STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) are STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections)
Laurie is a man's name.
Instead of coming right out and saying "yes," many people say, "I don't mind" or "I wouldn't mind."
Both of these countries do a great job in providing public toilet facilities, which are easy to find in most towns and cities I visited. In Australia, there are always bright yellow lock-boxes for the disposal of used syringes. Most toilets are labeled "male" and "female" rather then "men" and "women."
In most homes, the toilets feature two options for flushing: one with a small charge of water, and one with a larger one.
Sales tax is already included in the price of all items, including restaurants, so you pay exactly what the label or menu says. There is no tipping in restaurants, as all servers are paid a living wage for their work. Some restaurants charge 10 to 15% higher prices on public holidays, to compensate for the fact that they have to pay their staff a higher wage on these days.
In Australia, many places that accept credit cards will only do so if the charge is more than $10 or $20. The credit card machine and process is generally referred to as "eftpos," so if you want to know if a place will accept your card, you ask, "Do you have eftpos?" Many people who use the eftpos use it like our debit cards, so it is always important to indicate whether you will use your PIN (debit) or sign (credit).
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